Out of the Shadows 2
by DarkHououmon
Summary: Life has continued normally in the Great Valley, but with the sudden reappearance of Rex, Littlefoot soon discovers an evil long thought defeated has returned, and the target is his son Brook. Cancelled though I may decide to pick up on it later
1. His Return part 1: Back from the Dead

(A/N I apologize for not typing Learning to Cope first. I know it would have made more sense. But I had the urge to type the first chapter of OOTS2 first. So here you guys are. Chapter one of Out of the Shadows 2!)

Part I: A Warning

(At the very end of Out of the Shadows...)

(A/N Yes this is a repost of the epilouge at the end of OOTS.)

It has been five years since the sharptooth invasion. Five years since many of Littlefoot's friends lost their lives to a ruthless yet mind-controlled Chomper. Five years since Littlefoot was forced to say good-bye to his friend whom he knew from hatching day, Rex. The valley had returned to normal. Many of its citizens had forgotten that terrible day. But those closes to Rex had scars in the back of their mind of what had happened.

Littlefoot and his pals were now fully sized adults. They were no longer considered children. Cera had become leader of her father's herd. Her father, weak from sickness, would watch her proudly as she led their threehorn herd with expertice.

Spike had learned how to speak properly thanks to tutoring from another spiketail. Spike had joined with a spiketail herd, and while he felt bad about leaving Ducky behind, he believed this is where he had to be for a while. He promised Ducky he would return one day.

Ducky had adjusted to life without his brother being around so much. She had found a mate named Nightfall, and she had recently nested. She would gently turn her eggs, and waited patiently for them to hatch.

Petrie had also found a mate of his own. Pterano was chosen to be the godfather of their children. As Petrie hugged his mate, a female flyer named Rainbow, Pterano watched them proudly. They had just laid an egg, and Pterano couldn't feel happier. He loved children, and he was glad, despite his past, Petrie was willing to trust Pterano in the raising of the children.

Bron and Shorty were still in the valley. Shorty, a fully grown Brachiosaurus, was in charge of helping Bron whenever he needed it. Bron was starting to age a bit, and sometimes slipped. Thankfully Shorty was always there to help.

Then finally, there was Littlefoot and Ali. The two had paired off years ago, and were practically inseparable. The pair sat near the cave they had been in all those years ago. While it brought back haunting memories, it was the perfect place to raise their children. They had two, a son and a daughter.

Littlefoot looked up at the skies. He took in a deep breath. He recalled that day, when Rex disappeared forever. Sometimes he would see dracovols entering the valley to get a drink of water. He would always think it was Rex, but sadly, none of the dracovols looked like Rex, or even sounded like him.

"Littlefoot?" Ali's voice snapped him out of his trance. "You thinking about Rex again?"

"Wha..who..? Oh..yeah..." Littlefoot lowered his head. Ali nudged him softly.

"Don't worry about it!" Ali said, smiling. "He wouldn't want you to be sad forever!"

"Yeah...I know..." He sighed. "Another thing that keeps bothering me is what did Doc mean when he told me...nothing is as it seems..?" He looked at her, almost expecting an answer. But the female dinosaur was just as puzzled as he was.

"Maybe he was just joking with ya. He was an old-timer anyway. They tend to joke sometimes." She remarked.

"Not Doc." Littlefoot said seriously, eyes narrowed.

"Sorry." Ali said, head lowered.

"It's all right." He said. "I'm just confused, that's all."

"Daddy! Daddy!" A childish voice shouted, racing towards him. Littlefoot laughed, forgetting about his sadness. "Could me and Marsh go out and play?"

Littlefoot laughed again. "Why sure, Brook, you can take your sister and play."

Marsh bounded out beside Brook, giggling. They began to run off, tackling each other along the way. "Yay!" They shouted, happy to be outside today. The sun was out, and it was warm. It was a nice day today.

"As long as you stay within your mother's sight." Littlefoot instructed.

"Awww..." The little longnecks muttered. "I thought we were old enough to be on our own!"

Ali laughed, and reached out with her longneck, and nuzzled her two children. "Oh you will be, one day. But not now."

Marsh looked up at her father, noticing him leaving. "Dad? Where are you going?"

Littlefoot stopped, and didn't bother looking back. "Out for a walk. Be good for your mother." And he disappeared into the trees.

Littlefoot walked for a while. He looked around at the trees. He imagined a shadow or two, and whirled around to see who it was. But he would see nothing. He came across the spot where he and Rex first became enemies. He choked, trying to forget that horrid memory. He turned off in another direction. He found another familiar spot. It was where Rex made the wish.

Littlefoot stopped, unable to take his eyes off that spot. He dreaded this place. Ever since that day, he marked this place as off limits to his children. He was afraid they would come back and ask him about it. But he knew he couldn't continue running from the past. He would have to face it sooner or later.

He took in a deep breath. But not today. Today it was just too painful for him. He turned around and began to walk away. He suddenly heard a voice from behind him. It said, "Well there you are! Long time no see!"

Littlefoot turned around, looking for the sound of the voice. "What? Who's there?" He demanded, but no one made an appearance. After several minutes, he shrugged, and continued to walk back towards his home.

"Now now, where are you going?" The voice asked again, in a playful manner.

"Who is that!"

"Now come on, Littlefoot. Surely you remember me!" The voice laughed.

Then, suddenly, it dawned on Littlefoot. As he heard rustling behind him, and footsteps walking his way, he knew...he knew who it was. He couldn't believe it..but it was real. This was no dream.

Gathering his strength and courage, he turned around, and his eyes widened at what he saw. Not able to hold back a big smile, he felt tears of happiness appear in his eyes. "Rex!"

"Rex!" Littlefoot shouted, his voice filled with joy and amazement. He could feel his heart racing. But how was this possible? How could this be possible? He saw Rex die before his eyes! He saw Rex vanish into the moonlight! He saw that awful flamebreath steal Rex away from him! And for five long, painful years, he and his friends had to cope with the absense of Rex. It had been a long and hard road for them all, and no one was as effected as Littlefoot. And even seeing Rex before his eyes couldn't help him shake those horrid feelings of despair and loneliness.

"Yes, Littlefoot." The dracovol, in flesh and blood with his blue-green skin and dark blue eyes, walked forward, the same wings he used to have before he made the suicidal wish stretching out from behind him. As he approached the longneck, he reached out with his humanoid paw, the same paw he had touched Littlefoot with before. "I'm here." He whispered softly.

The longneck backed away, given sudden confusion to the now fully grown dracovol. "How...How did you come back?" He whispered hoarsely. "The flamebreath...she took away your life! She took you away from everyone who ever cared about you!" Littlefoot felt a tear running down his face. "But now...now here you are...standing right in front of me..." He chuckled. "T-This is just a dream isn't it? Just like all the others...I'm going to wake up in a few seconds..."

Rex rushed forward, despite the longneck was continuing to back away, and grabbed Littlefoot's head and looked him square in the eye. "Listen, Littlefoot! This is no dream! This is reality!" He dug his claws into Littlefoot's cheeks to prove a point. Littlefoot yelped in pain and recoiled back, looking at Rex with a hurt look. "I'm sorry Littlefoot, but it was the only way to show you that you are not dreaming."

"I'm not dreaming..." Littlefoot breathed. The truth began to sink into his heart, filling him with mixed emotions. "Th-Then this is really happening...? You are really back..?"

Rex moved his hands all over his body, feeling his skin and flesh. He concluded, "Yep, I'm back." He looked up at his childhood friend, and smiled, and grinned, exposing his sharp teeth.

"I...I..." Littlefoot said, not sure what to think. He knew that this was real, but he wasn't sure if he should accept it as reality. "B-But how did you come back?" He asked again. "How is it possible you could be standing here before me? I thought the flamebreath stated that..."

"...that I would lose my life, I know I know." Rex said quickly, sounding a little annoyed. Littlefoot was a bit taken aback. Rex noticed this. "Sorry if I sounded a little rude, Littlefoot."

"That's okay..." He said softly. "...so what happened to bring you back here...?"

Rex shrugged. "Someone must've made another wish..but I cannot imagine who." He turned away. "I've actually been back for a longer time than you can imagine." This got Littlefoot's attention, and he leaned in closer. "I actually came back a month ago." He turned around to face Littlefoot. Just like he expected, Littlefoot was frowning a little, looking a bit betrayed. "Yes, a month ago." He repeated.

"...why did you wait until now to come here?" Littlefoot angrily asked. But he settled down when he saw the dracovol's saddened face.

"I...I had to help a friend..." He sighed and turned his head away. "He was hurting himself...and I saved him."

"Saved...?" Littlefoot's voice trailed off. "Saved who...?"

(A/N Yes I got permission from Cyberlizard to use Tanner.)

Not long after he said that, he heard more rustling. He whirled his head around to notice some longneck walking towards him. "A longneck...?" Then Littlefoot noticed the sharp claws, the snout, and the feathers. No, this was no longneck. "No...not a longneck..." His mind clawed through his memory to search for the name of this species. It suddenly came to him. "An alimon?"

The figure walking towards him slowly, limping a little, nodded. "Yes..I am an alimon...for now." He added, spitting on the ground to get a nasty taste out of his mouth. He was a light red in color with green stripes and a beige underside, green eyes and black claws. He was covered in scabs and cuts, some of which he thought would become scars. Littlefoot also noticed there was a slight reddening in his eyewhites and a few of his feathers were torn in half.

"Who are you...?" Littlefoot asked cautiously. "And what on earth happened to you?"

The red alimon blinked, and pretended to look emotionally hurt. "Why Littlefoot, how could you not remember me? I helped you when you were still a kid. Don't you remember?" The longneck shook his head. "Well of course you don't! You never seen me in this form before." He chuckled, despite the dark mood he was obviously in. "It's me, Tanner."

Littlefoot couldn't help but smile. "Tanner? It's really you?" He stepped forward and stared at the red alimon that was once human Tanner. "It is you!" He nuzzled the green-striped alimon gently. "I'm so happy to see you!" He pulled away and frowned quizzically at him. "But what happened to you?"

Tanner snarled a little and turned away. His behavior stunned Littlefoot, causing the alimon to back away. Rex sensed the tension and he walked in between them. He looked up at Littlefoot. "Uhh...that's not a subject you want to get into with him at this moment." He whispered softly so that Tanner couldn't hear him.

"Why?" Littlefoot asked.

"Because..." Rex sighed. "He's still recovering from a depression that drove him to try and kill himself."

"What!" Littlefoot gasped out loud. "Why would he..!"

"Shhh!" Rex warned him and pointed at Tanner. Littlefoot understood and shut his mouth. "He was depressed about my death." Rex sighed and shook his head. "I'll never forget what it was like when I first found him...He was such a wreck."

"What happened...?" The male longneck inquired carefully.

"Well..." Rex inhaled, and began to tell Littlefoot about what had happened. 


	2. His Return part 2: A Prophecy

(A/N For reasons I will not mention, I decided NOT to write the flashback where Rex finds Tanner.) 

Part I: The Warning

When Rex finished telling the story, Littlefoot's mouth dropped and his eyes bulged out. He could not believe what he was hearing. The idea of Tanner abusing himself like that...That just didn't seem like him. And for what? It wasn't his fault the stupid flamebreath stole Rex's life away. There was nothing he could do to stop it. When someone made a wish, their life force is taken away. No ifs ands or buts about it, that's just the way it is. Littlefoot had a hard time accepting this fact.

"And...what of him now?" The longneck inquired. "I mean, is he in good health now?"

Rex looked over at the sulking Tanner. "Physically yes." He said. "I was able to get him to Dynamo's pack and the nurses there treated him. It took weeks before any progress could be noticed. He regained his health to near 100."

"Nearly 100? What about the remaining percentage?"

"Well his mind is still damaged." Rex said regretfully. "He hasn't been the same since...well...you know." His fingers fumbled with each other. "We tried mental therapy, but the only thing on his mind now is revenge."

Littlefoot lifted up his neck. "Revenge? You don't mean to say he's going to try and attack the flamebreath?" He looked over at the red alimon. "Come on, he can't possibly be that crazy or stupid."

Rex shook his head. "Well he is... He's been swearing for a few weeks now that he will have his revenge on the flamebreath. He doesn't care about the consequences." He sighed. "He won't listen to reason anymore."

Tanner turned his head, and growled at them. Rex gulped. He must've spoken too loud this time, because now the red alimon had gotten up and was walking towards them, his head hung low as his burning angry eyes stared into his and Littlefoot's eyes. "It's not I who won't listen to reason." He said slowly but darkly. "It is you who will not listen to reason." He looked at Rex and shook his head. "You might not want me to avenge your death, but I do! I will make that stupid flamebreath pay for taking away your life and ruining mine!" He screamed, rearing up, causing the dracovol and longneck to back away.

Tanner panted, his feathers shaking a little. He put his paws back on the ground and shuffled uneasily. "I'm sorry about that... I got a bit carried away." He admitted, chuckling a little. But the dracovol and longneck knew how the alimon really felt, for it was hidden deep in his eyes, the desire for revenge.

"Anyway, Littlefoot, there is a reason why I wanted to see you." Rex said seriously.

"You mean it wasn't to reunite with me after all these years?" Littlefoot asked, sounding a bit upset.

"Well that..but something more important!" Rex said, sounding very urgent. "While up in...you know...up there... I got a vision of the future." He said quickly.

Littlefoot slowly eyed Tanner. "Tanner's future?"

Rex shook his head. "No! Your future, Littlefoot!" He said this so loud that he was heaving, deeply inhaling oxygen to replenish the energy in his muscles, nerves, and bones. He stared into Littlefoot's shocked and wary eyes as he tried to catch his breath from his sudden shouting. As he calmed down, he started to say, "While I was..." He stopped, and continued, "I saw a prophecy...a prophecy about you, Littlefoot..."

"Me...?" The longneck breathed."

Tanner, who had been quiet for a few minutes, spoke up, "Yes, you." He said a bit sternly to the alimon. He softened, and continued, "And it's...not good I'll tell you that."

"You know?" The apatosaurus inquired, surprised.

Tanner nodded. "Yes. Rex here explained it to me while he was treating me." He shook his head. "It took me a while to believe it myself. And I thought the threat had passed."

Littlefoot frowned softly. "So did I." He turned to Rex. "So...what is this prophecy?"

Rex folded his wings briefly before relaxing them, allowing them to sag a little on his shoulders. His eyes became downcasted, and darkened. His hands and arms hung limply, attached to his shoulders. His tail rested on the ground, only once in a while twitching left and right. His right foot kicked up a rock with uneasy tension. Rex did not open up his mouth to give an answer, so he recieved a gentle nudge from Littlefoot's snout.

"Come on..." Littlefoot pleaded. "You can tell me." He whispered, staring into Rex's dark blue eyes. The dracovol only looked away. Littlefoot lifted up his head. "Rex, if this prophecy is about me, I have the right to know. I must know..." The voice trailed off as Rex gave a sigh, and looked up at his long necked friend.

Tanner frowned when Rex didn't do anything but stand there. The red and green alimon walked over, and placed his paws on Rex's shoulder. "Listen, Rex." The dracovol looked at Tanner's face. "I know it's hard...but you have to tell him. If he doesn't find out now...he'll find out later..."

Rex looked over at Littlefoot. Littlefoot had a small smile on his face, a smile that was pleading to him to tell him what he knew about his destiny. The dracovol finally gave off a sigh. "Oh all right Littlefoot...I'll tell you." He glared softly. "But trust me, you will not like it."

The longneck nodded. "I understand. But I'm prepared."

"Yeah sure..." Rex said, disbelieving his old friend. "Anyway, I found the prophecy, or at least, WAS TOLD the prophecy sometime before I was brought back to Earth." A small tear came to his eye. "Words can't explain just how I felt about it. I felt powerless to stop it. I wished I hadn't wished upon that flamebreath, so I could have been here to save you from the prophecy."

Tanner growled. "You're not the only one who wished you didn't wish upon that flamebreath..." Rex gave him a look and Tanner became quiet again.

"I know...I know..." Rex assured him before returning to Littlefoot. "Anyway, when I found out about the prophecy, I felt devastated that I couldn't do anything to stop it. I wished, with all my power, that I could warn you...But that was only wishful thinking."

"But what of the prophecy!" Littlefoot demanded, sounding impatient now. "Just what DID it say?" Rex looked up, then down, and gulped. He gave off a sigh.

"All right...Here it goes..." Rex whispered and started to chant the prophecy:

_After the great war  
In which many have perished  
During the time of five years  
Of grieving for the cherished  
A great evil shall return  
Filling hearts with dreaded fears_

_A past long forgotten  
A promise long forsaken  
The one touched by betrayal, anger, and hate  
The evil will have him taken  
And the target be his son of late_

_Alliances will shift  
Lies and truth shall reveal  
Things that have been long hidden  
Things that evil has been trying to conceal  
Fire be not greater threat than him, shall call out the smitten_

_From the world which we know  
To a land that time will forget  
Strange beasts that we never should meet  
Trapped there the son must beget  
A power even the evil one cannot defeat_

_Allies shall take on different shapes  
And a magic from five years past  
Shall return to find the one that nearly wished  
As death resettles on the land that thought seen last  
Call to him and he shall not miss_

(A/N Yeah, I know that prophecy sucked. What do you expect when you keep interrupting and you are not good with writing lyrics, let out a rhyming prophecy. And yeah I know it's been, like, two weeks, but you have to expect that. Be patient. This story will not be updated as often as my first story.)


	3. His Return part 3: Anger Boiling Inside

(A/N I greatly apologize for not updating this sooner. I sort of lost some motivation towards it. I do want to get started writing a Jurassic Park fanfic I've had in mind for a while, so I'll probably write one or two more chapters of OOTS2 and then put this story on hiatus for a while as I type some chapters for the JP fanfic. I hope that I won't get distracted for too long.)

Part I: The Warning

As Rex repeated these words, his voice was low and haunting, as if he was a merchant of death. His eyes seemed like they had glazed over, and his expression became blank as though he was possessed by some unseen force. Littlefoot listened with great intent, his expression growing more and more horrified as time went on.

Tanner was listening too, but not as intentively as Littlefoot. He had already heard the prophecy before, and he still felt Rex was partially responsible for it. 'If he hadn't sacrificed himself...maybe the prophecy wouldn't exist.' He thought bitterly, but he kept quiet. He knew it would be best not to say anything to Rex, or he could provoke him to switch sides again like he had 5 years ago, even though it wasn't really his fault. It was that stupid flamebreath that forced him to. Tanner was glad that Rex had vanquished the flamebreath.

But Tanner's mind was still on revenge, for there was another flamebreath out there, one that took Rex's life, one that was still out there, waiting to strike again...

'I'll find her...and when I do...I'll KILL her!' The alimon thought as he growled mentally. 'No one takes my friends from me. NO ONE!'

Littlefoot gulped as Rex finished the haunting message, and Littlefoot felt his heart ache as he tried to grasp on the prophecy's concept and warnings. The prophecy had just mentioned that an old enemy will return, and the longneck felt it hard to think of just who that would be. He had known a few enemies during the war only half a decade ago. There were several culprits, but the prophecy only spoke of one returning enemy. Or was it speaking of more than one?

(A/N Rock Rangers is the name that EbonyPatriot gave to the alimon pack which guards the Great Valley.)

There was General Chomper, but the longneck was confident that his sharptooth friend wouldn't betray him again. There was the Darkarians, but they've been quiet nowadays. He assumed the Rock Rangers kept them in check. There was Dark Rex, but Rex had destroyed Dark Rex five years ago, so it couldn't be him. There were those sharpteeth General Chomper had rounded up. Maybe some of them still want revenge. But Littlefoot dismissed the idea. The sharptooth pack had long since disbanded and went on to return to their normal lives because they were no longer happy with the way General Chomper had them living. There was Slasher's spirit which was rumoured to exist around in the valley, but Littlefoot felt that if Slasher wanted to strike, he would have done so already.

Littlefoot was growing more and more frightened as his mind pondered about the message. If the prophecy wasn't talking about the enemies he knows he fought, then what does the prophecy mean by that an evil shall return? There had to be something wrong, something was missing. There was something that Littlefoot missed about the war a few years back. There had to be an unseen enemy of sorts, but he couldn't figure out just what it was.

Then of course other parts of the prophecy scared him as well. It talked about alliances changing, enemies turning into friends, and friends turning into enemies. Littlefoot felt angry inside. Would this mean he would have to suffer the anguish of betrayal once more? What was this world coming to?

One part of the prophecy, he knew it was talking about him. And as he listened on, he realized, with dread, that his son was going to be a target! Why his own son? Littlefoot felt tears stream down his face. He didn't want anything bad to happen to his only son. He had promised himself that he would not let his children suffer the same way he did when he was young. He would not allow the children to grow up without their parents. He did not want to make the same mistake Bron did and become seperated from his kids for many years. He would not allow Ali to make the same mistake as his mother did. He would not allow her to do anything that could result in her death.

And now, with dread in his heart, the longneck knew that, despite his efforts, he may not be able to save his son from the curse of the prophecy. "No..." He finally spoke after several minutes of total silence. "It can't be true...not my son..." His body shook a little as he tried to fight off tears. "I won't let it happen!" He turned towards Rex. "You've gotta stop the prophecy!" He shouted, tears in his eyes. "Please! Stop it!"

The dracovol gulped and took a step back, feeling uneasy with how Littlefoot was looking at him. "I'm sorry, Littlefoot. There's nothing I can do..." The longneck glared at him for a few seconds before he turned his head away and closed his eyes and began to think about this newfound information. Rex knew this was going to be hard for Littlefoot to swallow. He couldn't blame him. It's only been five years since the war settled down and life became peaceful once more in the valley. The stench of the dead faded away with time.

And now Littlefoot just got word that another war might start, and once again he will be hit hard, and possibly lose a son in the act. Rex shook his head. He didn't understand why this was happening to him himself. Littlefoot had lost too many friends. He didn't need to lose any others. The blue-green dinosaur would like to help, but he was powerless to stop the prophecy. Once it had been made, nothing can stop it. It must run its course. Rex felt angry that he couldn't do anything to stop it.

Tanner listened to Littlefoot's words. They only made him feel angrier inside. He wasn't only angry at the flamebreath. He felt angry at Rex as well. He truly believed Rex could have stopped the whole mess without wishing upon the flamebreath. Others had tried to convince him that it was the only thing he could have done, but Tanner refuses to believe it. He was very stubborn and was not one who could be persuaded so easily. Once his mind was set, that's it.

As Littlefoot was in his own mind, unaware of what was going on around him, the red alimon walked slowly towards the dracovol from behind. he tapped the dracovol's shoulder. Rex turned around and saw Tanner. "Oh, Tanner." The alimon's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Rex chuckled nervously. "Hey..is something wrong?" At first Tanner didn't answer. But what he did next stunned Rex and would shock Littlefoot back to reality. Tanner clenched the claws of his right 'hand' tightly, so tightly it almost drew blood, and he pulled it back and...

...he punched Rex square on the muzzle.

"GAAAAHHH!" The dracovol flung backwards, and skidded across the floor, doing rolls as he went along. The punch wasn't as hard as it could have been, but it still gave Rex a bleeding nose and knocked one of his teeth loose. Rex coughed pitifully as he tried to get blood out of his mouth. He picked up the tooth that he lost and looked at it with shock. A dark bruise developed on the area that Tanner had punched. He dropped the tooth and looked at Tanner, the flabbergasted look never leaving his face.

"T-Tanner...how could you...?"

"How could I!" Tanner yelled, finally snapping after all this time. "You mean how could you! I don't care what you did! I don't care how angry you felt at yourself! I don't care how guilty you felt! You should NEVER have wished upon that flamebreath! Did you really want to die young! Because it certainly seemed so to me!" Rex winced, feeling a bit of tears coming on, but Tanner wasn't letting up. "Do you know how much grief you have caused me! Do you know how much I have suffered from your loss! Do you know how guilty I felt after you died! Huh! Do you!"

"Well..I..." Rex started, but he was cut off by Tanner.

"No! You don't! And you know why! Because you wished upon that stupid flamebreath without even THINKING! You just wanted to make me suffer, didn't you! What I have told you doesn't even scratch the surface of how I felt! When you died, I felt guilty! I felt like I could just die right there! I have been wanting to punch you for years, Rex, to show how stupid you were back there!"

Rex crawled up to his feet as Tanner kept scolding him so harshly. He couldn't believe he was being chastised like this, and by a close friend too. He gingerly rubbed the snout that the alimon had so badly assaulted, and winced as he felt more blood trinkle out of his left nostril. He continued listening to Tanner yelling, knowing that Tanner means well, but is getting too carried away. His anger was getting the better of him.

"And further more, you should NEVER sacrifice yourself for any reason! You would only bring pain and misery to those you cared about, and who cared about you! My heart hurt so much I wanted to rip it out! Somedays I...I wish I was never friends with you!"

The last sentence hit Rex hard. The adult dracovol shot him a horrifed look, and gulped. Littlefoot couldn't believe what he had just heard either. He has known Tanner to be aggressive sometimes, but he's never known him to act like that around friends. Then Littlefoot realized something. Could this be the turning point? Could this be when Rex turns evil once more?

The blue-green dracovol had backed away, glaring at Tanner through tear-stained eyes, one humanoid paw on the injured muzzle. He started to stretch out his wings. He felt like he should prepare to take his leave.

Tanner continued to glare at Rex for a few seconds as his mind started to cool down. As the rage disappeared, it was replaced with understanding. As he slowly realized what he had just said, his expression was turned to horrid realization. He started to run towards Rex. "R-Rex...I...I didn't..." Rex had quickly moved away as Tanner approached him.

"It seems to me you still have some anger issues you have not yet learned to control." Rex told him sternly. "I did not make the sacrifice to make you suffer. I did it for the good of the valley. Reviving innocent lives lost is a very good reason for the ultimate sacrifice, Tanner. You need to realize that. And I understand you did not mean it when you said you didn't want to be friends with me. I knew it was your anger talking. But please, Tanner, do not act like that again, or your wish just might come true." He said in a warning tone.

Tanner felt his own tears emerging, and he bowed his head in shame. "I-I'm sorry...I know you didn't mean to hurt me. It's-It's just that I felt like a fool, not arriving on time to save you...I felt like I had failed you."

Rex tried to smile, but the pain in his snout prevented him to do so. "I know that. But try to understand that you didn't fail anyone. There was nothing you could have done. Please stop trying to fool yourself into believing you could have made a difference."

Littlefoot watched this, unable to say a word. He suddenly realized what this was reminding him of. It was reminding him of himself, five years ago when he had accused Ali of something that wasn't true. He had killed her in the act. And while it was only an accident, Littlefoot had never forgiven himself for it.

Many miles away, a single entity was wandering around aimlessly. It was searching for something, anything to attach itself too. It recalled how it had tried once before, five years back, to possess a new host. It was the same creature responsible for the possession of Chomper. Now it needed a new host. It faded through objects, completely invisible to the naked eye. It loved this fact. It could sneak up on any unsuspecting dinosaur and take them over.

It still craved revenge. It wanted to destroy this pathetic valley, and it wasn't going to stop until it was destroyed. It suddenly heard voices, and it ventured towards the sound's source. It soon came upon two little longnecks playing. It recognized them as Littlefoot's children. It was not interested in possessing such weak-minded and weak-bodied animals, but it was looking for some fun, and what better way to spread fun like turning siblings against each other?

It zoomed in faster towards what appeared to be a male. It was Brook, the son of the prophecy. The evil entity entered the child's mind, making the young longneck contort and writh in pain. Marsh, the female, could only watch as her brother screamed in pain. But as she approached him, Brook looked at her with glowing red eyes, and laughed evilly in a voice that belonged to a particular dinosaur from the past...

Littlefoot finally spoke, trying to help change the subject a bit. He wasn't happy about watching Rex and Tanner just stare at each other with those looks on their faces. "Hey, why don't we all just..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! HELP ME!" A female voice screeched over the horizon.

Littlefoot shot his head up in alarm, as well as Rex and Tanner. "Oh no! It's Marsh! She's in trouble!"

He, Rex, and Tanner forgot about their recent dispute and headed towards where Marsh had screamed, and when they got there, they were horrified by what they had seen. Littlefoot did not want to believe it.

"Brook? What are you doing...?"

Brook laughed cruelly in a voice that was not his own. "Brook isn't here anymore!"

"That's not Brook..." Littlefoot breathed.

"I know who it is..." Said a mysterious voice from behind. "It's..."

(A/N Yeah a cliffhanger. XD) 


	4. Cannibal on the Loose

(A/N Okay, here's the next chapter. Yeah I know it's much sooner than normal. This is to make up for the fact that I didn't update in almost a month between chapters 2 and 3. I will decide, hopefully soon, whether or not I will type another chapter before putting this story on temporary hiatus. This chapter will not be as long as the recent one.)

Part I: The Warning

(A/N I got permission from Cyberlizard to use his alimon character, Sapphire.)

Back inside the valley's walls, a single female creature was hiking through the tunnels. She was a pretty blue with white coloring the tip of her snout, lower jaw, and underbelly. Her eyes were a beautiful sky blue. She ducked her head as the overhang of the wall suddenly got lower. She lifted her head again when she knew it was safe. She had been in this cave before, but it's been years since she last been here. She struggled to remember which pathway to take to get to where she wanted to go. "I have to talk to the leader of the pack." She said to herself. "It's important. I have to find him."

She continued her trekking, knowing that she was bound to bump into a pack member sooner or later. She only prayed they would still remember her, despite the fact she'd been gone a long time. She could barely remember the reason why she had left. She had been a member of this pack for so many years, but then...out of the blue...she just got up and walked away. She didn't betray the pack. She just decided to become a loner. She pondered how the pack would respond to her sudden return.

Suddenly she bumped into someone. She jumped back, and suddenly got into a defensive position. Teeth bared, she snapped a few times at the empty air, a clear warning to the stranger she just ran into. "Don't come any closer, intruder! I'm well armed to rip you to shreds!"

Laughter was the response. The blue alimon was confused at first, but continued to gnash her teeth threateningly. She was not going to let herself drop her guard for a second against an individual she did not yet know. "I think you can calm down, lady." The voice said. "I'm not going to harm you. I think I've seen you around here before. Aren't you that Sapphire lady who got up and left us a few years back?"

(A/N Zitro, who prefers to be called Ken'ichi, is a character that belongs to Sora W.T.K., not me. I claim no ownership to him.)

Sapphire...that was the alimon's name all right. Sapphire, the blue alimon, blinked in surprise that this stranger knew her name. "Why yes...yes it is my name." As her mind started to settle down, she slowly realized she recognized the voice that called out to her. "Zitro? Is that you?" As she focused in more in the dim light, she saw the same black white-striped alimon she knew when she was still a pack member. Squealing in surprise, Sapphire suddenly embraced Zitro in a big hug.

The black male gasped for air, and struggled against Sapphire's tight grip. "You're...hugging...too...tight..."

Sapphire opened her eyes in surprise. "Hmm?"

The male continued to gasp, "I...can't...breathe..."

"Oh!" The female realized her mistake and instantly let go. The male sighed with relief as he slumped to the ground, breathing in heavily to make up for the oxygen his body was deprived of. "I'm so sorry, Zitro! It's just that it's been so long since I last saw you, and, well...it's just so nice to see a friendly face again!"

Zitro finally climbed to his feet again. He hadn't changed a bit. Black skin covered his body, and he had a few white stripes along his back. His irises were gray and white colored his underside. He coughed a few times, and said, "Will you please stop calling me Zitro? I want to be called Ken'ichi! It sounds so much better, don't you think?" He grinned slightly.

"Well, whatever." Sapphire rolled her eyes. "Zi-I mean Ken'ichi, can you take me to your leader?" She winced at how this sounded like she was some alien wanting to dominate the world or something. "It's kind of important I speak with him. You see...I just found out something horrifying, and..."

"Well I'm listening. I have a lot of time on my paws." Zitro spoke dutifully, sitting down, waiting for her to talk. "Go on, tell me what you need to tell me, Sapphire." Sapphire looked at him, confused, and then burst out laughing. Zitro narrowed his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"That's a good one!" Sapphire laughed heartfully. "But seriously...take me to the chief alimon. I really have to speak with him. Have you seen him recently, Ken'ichi?"

"Well...you can sort of say that..." He chuckled.

"Well? Where is he?"

"You're looking at him."

The female continued laughing, but slowly stopped as she saw the stern look on his face, and she slowly realized that he wasn't joking. As her laughter subsided, she asked, "You? You're the new leader?" Zitro nodded. "But...it's only been five years since I left, and last time I checked, Dynamo was the pack leader. How come you're leader all of a sudden?"

Zitro sighed, and bowed his head slightly. "Our leader was struck down by an illness. Our best nurses couldn't save him, and so he passed away. Being his most trusted Assassin, I was crowned the next chief, and I've been running the pack for two years now."

"All by yourself?" Sapphire said, astonished.

"Oh good spirits no!" Zitro laughed. "I rule with my dear mate, Kacie."

"Kacie?" Sapphire asked. "You mean that red, blue, and yellow female alimon? The one who used to be a nurse?" Zitro nodded. "I see...I remember her. Where is she?"

Zitro pointed his head in one direction, towards his left side. "She's back at our den. She's sleeping at this moment, so don't disturb her."

"I won't."

"Anyway, what is it you needed to talk to me about?" Zitro asked, sounding a little worried. Being the leader, he had to take all matters seriously. Sapphire might have something very important to tell him. He's worried that she's going to tell him the Darkarians have struck again. His heart raced. Was that what she'd come to tell him?

Sapphire gulped. She wasn't sure how to say this to him. "Well it's...it's about Tanner."

Zitro's worried expression faded to that of surprise. "Tanner? You mean your mate from five years ago, but broke up with?" The female nodded. "Well, what about him?"

"I saw him a couple weeks ago." She lifted her head and looked behind her. It was clear she was afraid of what she had seen, and was fearful to talk about it. "He was wandering by himself, just on the outskirts of the valley. He had a really mean expression on his face, and it looked like he had just gotten into a fight. Blood was smeared all over his black claws and mouth. A few of his feathers were ripped in half, and he was covered in scars."

"Oh my..." The leader gulped. "I've never known Tanner to be so..vicious. What could he have possibly done to get himself in a mess like that?"

"I don't know...but it gets worse! I had rushed over to greet him. I wanted to know if he was all right. He didn't look too good. When I called out his name, though, he looked at me with these big glowing red eyes!" Zitro's eyes widened. "He then grinned maliciously at me, and he lunged forward. I quickly jumped out of the way as one of his jaws nearly clamped down on my throat. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. He didn't even speak. He only laughed cruelly as he hunted me down, trying to tear apart my flesh."

Zitro winced, imagining the pain she would have felt had she been ripped apart by another alimon. "Man...that's brutal..."

"I know...and I would have died because of him too if it weren't for the fact that the Darkarians called him back."

"The Darkarians?" The black alimon asked, sounding a bit surprised. "Tanner is with the Darkarians?"

"As much as I had to admit it...yes..." Sapphire said, lowering her gaze. "I couldn't believe it...I mean I knew he was mad at me for breaking up with him and running off and all...but was he that mad that he felt he had to betray his own pack?"

Zitro shook his head. "It's..it's gotta be a mistake. I mean, sure, Tanner was a bit messed up when Rex died, but really, he wouldn't betray us or anything. He isn't like that. No, it's gotta be a mistake. You've gotta be mistaking!"

"If only I was." Sapphire said, her voice shaking. "I'll-I'll never forget how he looked at me, all those flashes of blood and claws and dark red skin and..." She was interrupted suddenly by Zitro.

Zitro asked her abruptly, "What did you say? Did you just say 'dark red' skin? Are you telling me the alimon who tried to kill you was dark red?"

"Yeah...why?"

"I think you ran into an imposter of sorts. Tanner was light red, remember? Not dark red." He informed her. When she realized her mistake, she gasped. "Either this is just a lookalike, an imposter, or the Darkarians have taken advantage of Tanner's current state and cloned a more vicious and diabolical version of him!"

Sapphire gasped again. "You don't think..."

Zitro was already up and running back to the den to inform his mate about the situation. "Come with me, Sapphire! I'm going to go talk to Kacie and then you are going to lead me to where you saw this Tanner imposter!" Sapphire nodded, and too off after him. It didn't take them long to reach the den. Sapphire almost bumped her head again, but she managed to get inside. The den was pretty small, rounded, but it was cozy and warm, especially during coldtimes.

Zitro bent down, and gingerly nudged his mate. The female stirred a little, and moaned. "Just a few more minutes..." She muttered as she rolled onto her back and her tongue hung out of her open mouth. Zitro narrowed his eyes and gave her a small bite on the arm, just enough to wake her up. "Ouch!" She opened her single eye abruptly and quickly got into a sitting position. "What? What? Is the meadow on fire!" She quickly looked and saw Zitro's gray eyes staring at her. "Oh...hi, honey." She smiled. "What's wrong? Oh and what's she doing here? I thought Sapphire vowed never to return..."

Sapphire glared at her. "So I changed my mind. You got a problem with that?"

"No. I just didn't expect to see you is all. So, Zitro, what's on your mind?"

"It's bad. Sapphire just informed me that there's a Tanner lookalike out there, and he tried to kill her." Zitro said, shaking his head slowly.

"Oh my..." Kacie gasped, placing her front paw on her lower jaw in shock. "That's horrible! What are we going to do about this?"

"Sapphire is going to take me to where she saw this imposter. I want you to inform the rest of the pack of the situation. This imposter is apparently a cannibal! Tell everyone to stay inside their dens at all times! Don't let the cubbies wander out of the nurseries! Tell the elders to stay in the nurseries as well!" Zitro told his mate in a serious tone.

"I will." Kacie said. She got up and left. Zitro watched her leave. He knew the path she was taking. She was going to one of the broadcast parts of the cave, where her roars will echo easily throughout the tunnels and inform all members of the pack.

Zitro turned to Sapphire. "Okay, Sapphire, take me to where you were attacked."

"Yes, sir." She said as she began to lead Zitro to their destination. 


	5. An Old Enemy Returns

(A/N I apologize for the length of time again. I know I stated in the last chapter that I might stop writing for a while to work on my JP fanfic. However, I may or not actually work on it. I have got a lot on my mind, and not sure what to do first. I may start work on a different story, this one focusing on Stone.)

Part I: The Warning

"Fire." The voice had finished. The trio, stunned by the new arrival, turned around to face the intruder. Littlefoot was expecting some random resident in the valley. He had been used to being confronted by strangers who talked to him about the incident five years ago. But this time, it wasn't someone he didn't know. It was someone that he did know. Standing right in front of him now was a face from the past. Eyes widened, he was confused as to why this creature had gotten into the valley without sending a panic among the local residents.

"Ch-Chomper?" He breathed. "Is that you?" He squinted. "You look...different." He said as he stared at Chomper's new look. He now bore several scars along his body, mostly on his face. One of his horns had now snapped off at the tip, but still had jagged edges, so proved to be a formidable weapon all the same. Chomper was a little bigger now, fully sized. The hatred he once had in his eyes half a century ago was now gone, and Littlefoot was grateful for that. "What happened to you?"

"Long story." The carnotaurus said. "But back to the matter. I know who has taken control of your son, Littlefoot. It is Fire." He stared into Brook's glowing red eyes. "No doubt about it."

Tanner's head perked up and he spun around towards Chomper. "Fire?! Isn't that the maniacal alimon that Stone killed many years ago? But if that's him...how could it be...I mean if Fire is dead, how could he be here now, torturing innocent dinosaurs?"

Rex gave Tanner a sideways glance. "Oh come now. Don't tell me your forgot all about the flamebreath that took over me, did you?"

Tanner chuckled, blushing slightly. "Heh heh...oh yeah..." He looked at Chomper once more. "But am I right? Is Fire the same alimon that tried to overthrow Stone ages ago?"

Chomper nodded gravely. "I am afraid so. The Rock Rangers have long hoped that he would never return. But somehow, his spirit has returned. Fire here was the real reason I turned crazy all those years back. This little devil got inside my mind, and made me the monster I had been. He told me to do horrible things, and I had no choice but to obligue."

Littlefoot listened to Chomper's story as he stared at his children. Marsh had rushed over to her father and hid behind one of his huge powerful legs. Brook was advancing towards her, but Littlefoot blocked him with his tail. He lowered his head to gaze into what was once his son's face. Littlefoot began to think about the prophecy again. "And the target shall be his son of late..." Littlefoot whispered in horror as he thought about this Fire character, how he had possessed his son...his son! "Fire be not greater threat than him..." Was the prophecy talking about Fire himself?

Littlefoot hadn't known Fire himself, but he had heard stories about him. He had learned that the Darkarians' mission was to avenge Fire and fulfill his dream of taking over the valley by force. He was pleased that the Darkarians failed time after time. But he knew, all to well from the last experience, that with each failure, the rogue pack only grew more and more powerful. It was becoming harder and harder to stop them.

And now, according to Chomper, Fire had returned to play a part in the pack's vengeance by taking over Chomper. Littlefoot began to think back at all the things Chomper had said to them, all the things Chomper had done to them. Realization began to set in as the truth became more and more apparent. It was not Chomper doing those things. It was not Chomper who believed in the 'facts' he believed in. It was Fire all along. Littlefoot winced mentally. This disturbing piece of information meant that Fire must have known him all along, knew him well enough to have reasons to hate him, and then try to murder him.

"You...you knew me..didn't you?" Littlefoot asked the possessed young longneck, voice shaking.

Brook slightly opened his eyes further, and a mild look of surprise was on his face. But it was soon replaced with a sneer that was so unnatural and it sent chills down Littlefoot's vertabrae. "Oh of course I know you..." The spirit known as Fire spoke. "I know all about you...and your puny friends." He recieved a glare and snarl from the large longneck, but despite being a lot smaller, he remained unfazed. "Pathetic longneck...I could have killed you so easily during that drought, but of course, Stone decided to intervene..."

"What? Drought? Stone intervened?"

"My my, aren't you the curious fellow." Brook laughed insanely. "Well if you must know...well you do have the right to know I suppose..." He chuckled. "You do recall when the Thundering Falls stopped flowing and water disappeared, and the land dried up, right?" Littlefoot nodded carefully. "Well I was the one who helped start the fire." He grinned menacingly. "It was supposed to kill you...and your little friends with it."

"But..why?" Littlefoot said, starting to feel mad. "What did we ever do to you?! We never even met you!"

"Ah, but you have met my friends." The spirit of Fire hissed, the eyes of the longneck narrowing dangerously thin.

Littlefoot asked, "What are you talking about? I've never seen an alimon when I was that young! You must be mistaken me for someone else..."

Brook bared his teeth, causing Marsh to whimper in fear. "You have no idea what you're talking about, longneck. If you have truly met the Rock Rangers, they would have told you that they keep track of the natives of the Great Valley. They would know, for sure, each and every name of the Great Valley residents. So it is logical for me to know all about you and not even have met you in person."

He walked forward, and placed his front paws on Littlefoot's tail. "You have not met any of my alimon friends. But you HAVE met my egg-eater friends. And this was when you became friends with that blue sharptooth."

"Who? Rex?" Littlefoot asked, eyeing the young dracovol behind him.

"No! Chomper!"

Littlefoot looked at Chomper, and as he began to recall what happened during Chomper's first days, a gasp escaped his throat. "You..were friends with those egg stealers that raided Ducky's nest?!"

The spirit of Fire laughed. "You learn fast, don't you? Yes, I will admit it. Strut and Ozzy are...were my dear friends...until you and your bumbling friends ruined their chances of a meal...and then lead them to their demise when Chomper's stupid parents attacked! Now they're gone! And it's all because..of...YOU!!"

As Brook shouted this, his eyes suddenly stopped glowing and returned to normal. A black smoke escaped from his jaws, and he fell to the ground, eyes closing tightly. The black smoke developed red glowing eyes of its own, and it began to take shape, somewhat like a snake, and it got into a snake-like attack position. It smoke in an echoing, robotic voice, "NOW I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER, JUST LIKE THEY SUFFERED!!"

Tanner growled and he leapt in front of Littlefoot. "Hey! Why should you take this out on him? It's not his fault Chomper's parents ate your buddies for lunch! Besides, didn't you make him suffer enough?!"

Rex joined Tanner by his side. "He's right! Why don't you go back to limbo where you belong, eh?!"

The spirit hissed, and let out a screech as it lunged forward. The alimon and dracovol gasped and they jumped to the side. The spirit only touched solid ground, and it looked over towards them, eyes narrowed. "DON'T TEMPT ME!" It warned as it grew larger and longer. Littlefoot backed away slowly as Fire's spirit was becoming eye level with him. It stared at him directly in his reddish brown eyes. "AND AS FOR YOU...MARK MY WORDS, LONGNECK, YOU WILL DIE!"

Littlefoot mentally shuddered. Just what was he going to do? He knew he was going to have to fight the spirit, but how can he fight something he cannot touch? He knew little of how to combat this...this horrible beast...thing. But Littlefoot had made the terrible mistake of letting out his emotion so strongly because the spirit was leaning in closer, as though sniffing him.

"YOU ARE AFRAID AREN'T YOU? GOOD!" It laughed cruelly. "THIS WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR ME TO TAKE OVER YOUR BODY!"

Littlefoot gasped. He couldn't run. He couldn't hide. Rex and Tanner looked up and watched in horror was the spirit dove inside Littlefoot's body. The longneck shuddered, and reopened up his eyes, now a bloodshot red. He laughed loudly, and triumphantly.

"Oh no..." Tanner whispered.

"Littlefoot!" Rex shouted.

Chomper gulped. "This...This is exactly what that creature did to me..." He watched as the possessed Littlefoot was about to attack his own daughter, Marsh, by stomping on her. "Littlefoot! Fight! Fight it! Don't let him take control of you! Don't show fear! Show aggression!" Before he could get another word out, he was silenced by the apatosaur's tail slamming against him. Crying out in pain, he fell to the ground.

"Chomper!" Rex shouted, flying to the carnotaur's side. "Are you all right?"

Chomper wheezed, "Does it look like I'm okay?!"

Rex winced, and then he heard someone approaching him. "Rex, what are we going to do?" Tanner asked, looking panicked.

Rex narrowed his eyes a little. "We try to get through to him. We have to reach out to the real Littlefoot and bring him back, and free him of Fire's control."

Tanner looked behind him, and shuddered. "I can only hope it works..."

Inside the Rock Ranger's home, a huge gathering was taking place near the center of the cave network. The room was extremely large, much larger than the other openings around the cave. Most members of the pack were gathered inside, males and females, young and old, all inside, waiting for the briefing they were about to recieve. They had been called in here for an important announcement.

Some of the alimons were starting to become restless. What was taking so long? They had been waiting for ten minutes for the leaders to show up to explain the situation, but so far, nothing. The tall pillars remained empty and unaccompanied. Some of the cubbies were wandering off, away from their parents, and some of the adolescents were picking fights with each other. The adult alimons and a few seniors tried to settle down the fights, but they were either ignored, or slightly attacked.

A silver alimon shook her head slowly. "When is this meeting going to start?"

A red and yellow alimon nodded in agreement. He said, "Yeah! I've been waiting forever!"

"Oh come now..." A white and purple alimon replied. "We haven't been here twelve minutes and you are already becoming restless? How pathetic."

The red and yellow alimon glared at the white and purple male alimon. "Oh yeah? Why don't you tell that to everyone else? Almost all of us are growing sick of this ridiculous waiting! The leaders call us in for a meeting and they don't even show up!"

The white and purple alimon growled, "Have patience, you idiot. It wouldn't hurt."

"Why don't you two just knock it off?" A black alimon said, approaching them, her eyes narrowed. "We can't have any fights in here. This meeting is important. Show some maturity and respect, well ya? We've got cubbies in here."

While the clamoring and fighting still went on in the pack, above on the rocky pillars, shadows starting being cast on the walls, and some touched the alimons below. The voices began to die down as they realized the leaders were arriving. Some made nasty comments on how late they were, and others sighed how they were finally going to get to listen to something other than their buddy's talking. A few made no comment. The cubbies were called back to their parents and the adolescents started to settle down a bit.

The pack was surprised when they saw Kacie show up on the pillar, but there was no Zitro. This caused a few alimons to cry out, asking her where her mate was. "I am afraid Zitro is out for a walk. He told me to gather this meeting without him."

"But what's the situation?" A pink alimon cried out.

"What is so important that we all had to be called here?" An elderly alimon shouted.

"Patience..I'll tell you all that soon enough." Kacie said softly. "But first I must bring in the Advisor. She also must hear this out."

"No need. I'm already here." A female voice said. Kacie turned to see a blue alimon slowly walking towards her. She was characterized by her moon-shaped scar. She had a few other scars on her body as well, and light blue skin on her back, neck, and head, and tail, and coloring her paws. Lavender claws decorated her talons, and two brown stripes covered her back. Her eyes were a darker shade of green than Kacie's single working eye.

"Arrived already, eh, Chelsey?" Kacie asked as her cubbiehood friend sat down beside her on the pillar.

"You could say that." Chelsey replied, not casting her a glance. "So what is the situation? I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know..."

Kacie turned her head back towards the pack. "My fellow pack, grave news has descended upon us today." A few alimons cast each other a nervous glance. "Earlier today, I was informed by my mate that a rogue alimon, looking almost just like a former pack member, Tanner, has invaded the valley sometime ago. He has tried to murder another former pack member, Sapphire, in cold blood." There was a collective gasp among the group. "And worst of all, this imposter is working for the Darkarians!" She said in disgust and anger. Even Chelsey looked surprised. "This Tanner imposter is a threat to us all! I highly advice all of you to be careful when entering the valley. The oldest and the cubbies are not to leave the safety of the dens! Do you all understand?"

There were a few minor protests, but most of the alimons agreed to Kacie's terms. Kacie then turned to Chelsey, who was looking down at the group with a watchful eye. "Well, what do you think?" She asked the Advisor. "Do you think my choices are good? Do you have any suggestions you might want to add?"

Chelsey looked at Kacie for a few seconds, and then back at the pack. They hadn't dispersed yet. They were waiting to hear her approval and suggestions and ideas if any were to come to mind. "Well I do like your ideas, Kacie. But are they foolproof? How are we going to make sure the cubbies are going to stay where they belong? You know how rambuctious and mischevious they are." A cubbie stuck out its tongue in her direction. "I mean really, shouldn't we also tighten up security. After all, there are bound to be some alimons disobeying your commands, Kacie. So I think that a few of the highest ranking alimons should be put on guard duty, and make sure no one comes in or leaves the tunnels without permission from you and Zitro..." She thought about this. "Oh and me of course."

Kacie nodded, and she turned to the pack. "You heard her! The top ten alimons with the highest ranks other than me, Zitro, and Chelsey are to make sure that the cubbies stay with their parents at all times and no alimon leaves the tunnels without permission! You all understand that?"

"Yes!" shouted the alimons in unison.

"Good." As the pack began to disperse, Kacie walked up to Chelsey and sat down next to her. "So..what do you think about this situation of the Tanner imposter? You think he could pose a greater threat than I had thought?"

"If you want my honest answer, Kacie, I don't know. This worries me too." She stood up and began to walk away. "This Tanner clone seems to be just as dangerous as Rorra was..."

"Rorra..." Kacie whispered in fear. She remembered that alimon all too well, and shuddered physically. "I hated him so much..." She looked up towards the network of tunnels. "Well I better go see what my daughter is up to." She climbed down the pillar she was standing on and entered the tunnel to return to her daughter's den to speak with her.

Outside the walls, out in the valley itself, Sapphire was leading Zitro further and further away from the Rock Ranger's home. She was taking him to the exact spot she had confronted what she had believed to be Tanner. Zitro looked around cautiously, expecting the crazed cannibal to jump out at any moment, at any time, and try to tear him apart like he almost torn apart Sapphire. "So is this where you were attacked?"

"Almost." Sapphire replied, taking a few more steps. "It was about right here." She pointed to all the blood that stained the ground, and the deep claw marks in the earth. Zitro whistled. It must have been some fight! Even the single tree in this remote area was not unaffected, for deep claw marks were embedded into its bark. "I saw him disappear over there." She pointed to a crevasse in a rocky hillside close by. It was large enough for an alimon to squeeze through, but with all the foliage close by, mostly bushes, it was practically invisible to the valley's citizens.

Zitro examined the crevasse. He peered inside, and looked around. "I can't pick up his scent..I wonder if that's normal." He got up and looked towards Sapphire. "Do you know anything else about him? Do you know if he revealed any plans to you? Did he speak to you? And did you see anyone else here besides him?"

Sapphire answered, "Sorry...no. He was the only one who showed up...well until he was called back that is. But I couldn't see exactly who they were...All I knew was that they were Darkarians. And the only thing he told me other than explaining how he was going to rip me apart to eat me was that the Darkarians will have their day, that they will return when we least expect it."

Zitro signed. "Those Darkarians..they shall never give up, will they?" He looked back towards the valley's walls, and back at the attack scene again. "This fight, taking place in the valley and under our very noses... This is serious, very serious indeed. Come, Sapphire, we must return back to the caves and talk with my mate and Chelsey about this."

"Chelsey?"

"Yeah. Our Advisor. You know, how Donovan was..."

"Oh...okay." Sapphire replied.

"So is there anything else, anything at all, you can tell me about the imposter himself?" Zitro asked.

"No! I told you all I knew!" Sapphire replied.

"Calm down, okay? I was just askin'." Zitro mumbled as the pair made a run for it.

But little did they know they were being watched. A large male alimon stood high above the ground, his eyes gleaming evilly. The figure did not chase after the alimons as they took off. Instead he just stood there, watching them like a hawk. He stepped out into the light above, and he had a striking resemblance to Tanner. In fact he could very well be the Tanner imposter Sapphire had warned the Rock Rangers about!

His body was dark red in color, and he had pitch black talons on his feet. His underside was colored dark brown, and the stripes along his back were very dark forest green in color. His eyes were a normal shade of green against a yellow background. He grinned menacingly, drool dripping from his jaws. "I shall enjoy taking away everything you hold dear, Zitro. Oh shall I relish the thought!" He said, laughing coldly.

He got up from his lookout perch, and made his way back towards his campsite. "I will inform Retaru about this." He chuckled softly to himself. Retaru was the new leader of the pack after Gris was killed by Chomper. Gris did have some offspring, but they did not want to take over the pack. So the honor fell onto Retaru, who willingly agreed to run the pack. "I think he will be interested in this..." The dark alimon said as he disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

(A/N I should try not to write chapters while my eyes are hurting. oO; Okay this chapter was pretty long because I may or may not put this story on hiatus. There is a chance that I will try and continue to update it as much as I can, but there is also the chance the story will be put on hiatus for a few months. I will inform you all of my decision later.) 


	6. The Forsaken

(A/N Man it's been a while since I wrote a chapter, hasn't it? LOL Well I wasn't planning on writing a chapter yet, but someone requested I do so. So I give you chapter 6! Oh, and I forgot to mention. Don't be surprised if I start adding in elements and characters from Turok: Evolution. I did plan on this fanfic being a crossover with that game.)

Part I: The Warning

Light and darkness..they say they couldn't co-exist in the same place. They say that it can only be light, or only darkness. This is the same of how they feel about good and evil. There are those who believe you can be good or evil, but never both or neither. There are those who don't believe in being neutral, that being neutral is just as bad as being evil. Light and darkness, complete contrasts of each other and yet, if one would look hard enough, everyone is a mixture of both. There is no such thing as a pure soul or completely corrupted soul. We are all capable of doing both good and bad.

This very thing can be said about one particular creature who has been misjudged and misunderstood for as long as its kind can remember. Marked for dead, they were hunted down by other species, feared they would destroy the world with their horrendous fire-spitting abilities. Most of which hid among the darkest parts of the world, hidden from the jealous and hateful earlier dinosaurs who wished to exterminate them. The much maligned species disappeared without a trace, and some believe them to be extinct.

But this is not the case. Some are still alive, but others have been reduced to spirits, having starved to death. And some of these spirits have grown vengeful, hateful, wanting to take out their revenge on the very creatures who chased them away: the dinosaurs. Hidden away in a world invisible to all other creatures, the forsaken lay in wait, hoping for the day the dinosaurs would fall, and they would reclaim the planet as their own. They watched, hopeful, as a valley of dinosaurs was being decimated. But then they were infuriated when their hopes were crushed. The dinosaurs weren't all killed off. There were some deaths, but the forsaken had wanted more..They wanted the dinosaurs to suffer for their injustice millions of years ago.

A large swirling cloud against a pitch black background, this was the only home of the forsaken spirits, for even in the spirit world they were shunned for what they were, and what they could do. The spirits of the abused and the misjudged were restless, neverending searchers of peace...and revenge. What they wouldn't give to be treated fairly as they are amongst their own kind. And yet there still were haters, people who could never accept them, and always hated them just for what species they were.

Probably the most troubled about this hatred was a yellow-colored member of the spirit group. She was the head advisor, and in her heart she developed a burning hate for the dinosaurs. She had the most magical talent among the spirits, and had decided to take out her anger on the dinosaurs by granted them a death wish, a wish that would suck the very life out of them. She would mentally laugh as she drains the life force out of her victims, but it never truly satisfied her. To kill was one thing; to make them suffer, well that was entirely something else.

She did admit, she was marveled by such a sacrifice a certain dinosaur made to rescue the valley. If she had the choice, she would not have granted it, she would have let the valley suffer. But she was bound to her duty given to her by her superior. She had to grant the wish, no matter what it was. She hated herself for granting it, but what choice did she have?

While she had a hatred of all dinosaurs, there was something very different about the last dinosaur she killed. That dracovol...so bold and willing to give up his life to save another...Such bravery. The sorceress was very impressed with him. In fact she did have a soft spot for dracovols. Even if they were considered dinosaurs, they were different from the other dinosaurs. She just couldn't hate them. So it was this dracovol's death she had regretted causing. She had told herself time and again that he was a dinosaur and that he deserved it...

But just by being a dracovol..She knew she would regret killing him, someday, somehow. The sorceress sighed and traveled through the cloud in the pitch black darkness. It had been dark for some time, since she was the only of the forsaken in the area. The others had left to spy on the current condition of the valley, looking for another breaking point. She was left to watch the spiritual home, though she couldn't understand why. What dinosaur spirit would want to invade their home?

She suddenly saw another hint of light. She looked over and saw a dim light heading her way. She recognized that bluish hue and she sighed. She didn't really want to talk to this guy, but she was bored. What else was there to do? She hated being left all alone. So she stopped and let the second forsaken spirit to approach her. "Greetings, Aquamarine." She spoke, her voice echoing despite there were no boundaries. "Returned so soon?"

The other spirit, this one of a blue instead of yellow, stopped beside the female. He licked his lips, pointy teeth exposed in the small amount of light that was available. "Thunderstorm, what kind of greeting is that? I thought you'd be happy with a return of your own kind. I thought you were lonely."

"Lonely yes, but not for you." She said bitterly, glaring at him with her glowing red eyes. She watched him float a few inches back, giving her some space. She looked away, trying to find any other spirits returning from the valley.

"Sheesh, someone's a little too grouchy for her own good." The male commented, moving a bit further away. "You don't have to act this way. Try showing some compassion."

"Compassion?!" Thunderstorm snarled, turning her attention once again on Aquamarine. "Did those dinosaurs show us compassion when they chased us off when we were alive?!"

Aquamarine growled. He did hate the dinosaurs for that, but he also hated on how Thunderstorm would constantly bring this subject up. He agreed with revenge as much as the next forsaken, but not to this constant extent. "Okay, listen, we all want revenge, yes, but let us not continue to dwell on this matter..." He tried to explain, but he was abruptly cut off by the angry female.

"Oh give me a break!" She snapped. "I talk about revenge because it's the only thing we want. We are dead! There is nothing we can lose by going after those horrible beasts!"

"Y-Yeah..but..."

"But what? Didn't you turn your back on us when you revived a dinosaur?!" She had failed to mention this particular dinosaur was a dracovol, but she was too angry to take that into account. "By doing so, you had betrayed us all! I'm surprised the leader even let you stay!"

It was Aquamarine's turn to get angry. "Oh yeah? Look who is talking! You revived the lives of a lot more than just one dinosaur! You restored the lives of many individuals of the same race that mistreated us! And you call me a traitor?!"

The yellow spirit opened up her mouth to come up with a good defense, but nothing came out except silence. She knew the blue spirit was right. She had saved the lives of the very creatures she hated. She gave out a sigh of defeat. "Yeah...I know..I know." She turned away, not looking at him. "I'm...sorry."

"It's all right..." Aquamarine said, shaking his head. "We're all a bit edgy right now. We had a glimpse of revenge, only to be sucked away by that dracovol..." The spirit growled as he remembered how this dracovol defeated him in battle. It was such an embarrassing defeat for him. He, a proud soldier, invincible warrior, defeated by such a pathetic creature. "Though that dracovol is pretty impressive...Perhaps we could persuade him to join us."

"No..he betrayed them once; He'd never do it again." Thunderstorm muttered. "We're better off just killing him off."

"Maybe...maybe not." Aquamarine stated. "But let us save that for when our leader arrives. By the way, do you know when he'd be back?"

"Yes." Thunderstorm responded, still not looking at the male. "Now."

"LOOK OUT!" A carnotaur shouted as a massive tail swung towards an alimon. The alimon shrieked and leapt out of the way as the tail slammed into the ground, kicking up dirt. A scream of little longnecks could be heard as they scrambled under a log, and out of harm's way, or so they believed. They watched in sheer horror as their father charged towards his friends, trying to kill them with his massive weight or tail. He even used his teeth to sheer off flesh from the blue carnotaurus who was trying to talk some sense into him.

"Littlefoot!" The carnotaurus, Chomper, shouted desperately. "It's us! Your friends! Don't you recognize us?!" He narrowly dodged another attack, and winced as his bite wound on his tail connected with the spikey bark of a tree, sending seering pain throughout his body. "Stop this! Can't you see what you are dong?!"

The longneck did not answer, but laughed cruelly as he knocked the blue sharptooth down. He reared onto his hind legs and prepared to squash the sharptooth. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time..." Came the eerie voice as the longneck came down, putting full force into the blow he was about to deliver onto Chomper.

"NO!" Rex opened up his wings and flew towards the longneck. "STOP!" He got into attack mode and drove his claws and teeth into the head and neck of his possessed friend, giving Chomper time to escape. Rex's attack forced Littlefoot back down onto all fours as he struggled to get the dracovol to let go.

"Let go of me, you pest!" Littlefoot growled as he slammed into several trees, completely leveling them with his huge body. Rex continued to cling on, drawing more and more blood from his friend. "I said let me go! Do you really want to kill your friend?!"

This hit Rex like a rolling boulder. The spirit was correct. He didn't really want to kill Littlefoot. He looked at himself, and noticed just how much blood was pouring out now. He quickly let go...and realized his mistake. "You're such a fool!" Fire cackled as he struck the dracovol down with a headbutt.

"Oof!" The dracovol landed on his back, and he tried to get up, but felt a heavy foot step onto his stomach, and held him down. He frantically struggled to get the foot off of him, but to no avail. "Littlefoot! It's me! Rex!" He cried desperately. "Come on, man! This ain't cool!" He struggled even harder when he felt the pressure on his stomach from the heavier animal increase. If this kept up, his back would be broken!

"Littlefoot can't hear you!" Fire shouted through Littlefoot's mouth, cackling evilly as he continued to press down on the dracovol. "Your friend is just a mere memory!"

"REX! LET HIM GO!" Fire looked up and saw the troubled alimon, Tanner, leap in the air, and down towards him. Before he could defend himself, the alimon latched onto his back. He dug his claws into the leg pinning Rex down, tearing into the flesh and tried to force the possessed longneck to lift his foot back up. "LET HIM GO I SAY!" Tanner shouted again as he bit into the leg.

Fire winced. He could feel the pain, and he knew Littlefoot was too. He could easily just wait until Tanner had killed his longnecked friend, but decided against it. He quickly lifted up his foot and struggled to get the red alimon off of him. "GET OFF!" He screamed angrily as he felt the alimon's talons dig deeper into his host's skin. He finally managed to knock Tanner off. But instead of attacking, he stood there, panting. He felt a bit weary from fighting the trio. He could easily just leave this host's body in search of a better host, but he then felt compelled to keep this body to cause his enemies more pain.

Tanner rushed to Rex's side and helped him get up to his feet. "Hey, you okay?" He asked cautiously. After what had happened earlier, he felt afraid to speak to the adult dracovol.

Rex looked at him, and answered, "Do I look okay?" Then turning away towards Littlefoot, he waited to see what the longneck would do next.

"Rex..." Tanner started.

Rex cut him off. "Not now! This is a bad time!" He said to Tanner, not taking his eyes off the injured longneck. "We aren't out of danger!"

Tanner opened up his mouth to say something, but was cut off yet again, but this time from Chomper. The blue sharptooth slowly approached the two, feeling a bit afraid of Fire trying to attack him again. "We best get out of here now. Who knows what Fire will do next."

Tanner sighed. "Yeah...I agree... Let's just go.."

"We can't leave the children!" Rex said, wide-eyed as he looked at the helpless kids hiding, shaking in fear and dread. "We have to take them with us." He began to walk towards the kids, but Tanner stepped in front of him. "Why are you blocking me, Tanner?"

"What if Little-err...Fire attacks you? What if he kills you? I don't think I could forgive myself if..." Tanner couldn't finish.

"And what, I should just leave the kids out there?"

"N-No, I never said that...but...I..I don't know..." Tanner sighed, and lowered his head.

Rex sighed as well. "Sorry, but I have to get them. They are just helpless kids. They can't manage on their own." The dracovol walked over to retrieve the kids, ever cautious of what the Fire-controlled longneck would do to him if he got too close. So far Littlefoot remained motionless, except for his constant staring.

As Rex coaxed Marsh and Brook to follow him, Littlefoot's eyes suddenly glowed red. "RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!" Suddenly Littlefoot sprung forward, slammed his body into the ground. Rex quickly grabbed the kids and took flight. Tanner and Chomper sped away, and went deep into the woods, anywhere to get away from Fire. They raced as fast as they could, until they were sure Littlefoot wasn't behind them any longer.

They slowed their pace, and settle down. Marsh and Brook huddled together, and laid down. They hadn't dared speak. They were too shaken up by what had happened back there. The three adults settled down as well, unsure of what to do now. They couldn't kill Fire; he was already dead. They would end up killing Littlefoot instead. But now they couldn't get through to the longneck. He was too deep in the alimon spirit's control. They were at a loss.

None of them said a word for several minutes, and not a sound either, save for the occasional cough. Finally Tanner broke the silence, turning his attention to Rex. The dracovol turned his head as he heard the light red alimon speak. "Rex...I...I need to tell you something. I wanted to say it earlier, but you..."

Rex nodded. "I know..sorry about that. But I had to stop you from asking questions at such an inappropriate time. We were in the threat of being attacked, Tanner. It was not a good time to try and say whatever it was you wanted to say."

"I know..I know..." The alimon responded, turning his head away. "I..I just wanted to..apologize for earlier."

Rex raised an eyebrow. "Apologize? For what?"

Tanner looked at him with sad eyes. "For...that." He pointed towards the dracovol's muzzle. The blood at stopped and the pain had died down some.

"Oh...this?" He placed his humanoid paw on his muzzle, and gingerly caressed it. It still stung, but it wasn't too bad now. He felt worse before. His eye stung for quite sometime before the pain died down completely.

The alimon nodded. "Yeah..and for those things I said to you earlier. I didn't really mean it."

"I know, Tanner, I know." Rex said softly. "I don't really blame you..I blame that stupid flower you kept eating over the years. It damaged your brain."

Tanner sighed again. He knew Rex was right. The flowers contained a neurotoxin that did some brain damage to him. It damaged the part of his brain controlling and regulating emotions. It wasn't much, but it was enough to cause him to sometimes, and without warning, lose control of his emotions. He did start having some feelings of regret ever touching the flower in the first place.

"Yeah, I was a fool trying to kill myself with that flower. I don't know what came over me..." He said.

"You were upset, and you did miss me dearly." Rex explained. "It clouded your judgement."

Tanner didn't respond at first. He just looked at the ground, feeling a bit guilty. He finally spoke up. "Well..do you forgive me?" Tanner suddenly said. "I'm so sorry for what I said."

Rex blinked. "Well of course I do. You didn't need to apologize."

"Yes..yes I did...I shouldn't have punched you like that..I should have controlled myself. Brain damage or not, I should have known better." Tanner could feel a tear strolling down his cheek. "What I did...was just dreadful." He bowed his head.

Chomper didn't say anything as he watched this scenerio. He hadn't seen Tanner snap like this before. He just decided to keep quiet and wait to see what Rex would say. Beside him, the children were trying to go to sleep, but even they couldn't keep their eyes off of Rex and Tanner as they talked to each other.

"Tanner...you have to stop feeling sorry for yourself. It's not going to make you feel any better." Rex said, breaking the silence. "All it's going to do is make you feel worse. I know it's hard, but you've got to put the past behind you. Try to feel happy again."

"Happy...?" Tanner said. "How can I feel happy knowing what happened to you..and what I did to you?"

"Is that any reason to keep putting yourself down?" Rex asked. Tanner couldn't answer this. Instead he just looked away from the dracovol, allowing a few tears continue to smear down his face. "If you continue to put yourself down, you're not only hurting yourself..you are hurting those who cared about you."

Tanner flinched at this statement. He knew Rex was correct. He turned to the dracovol, his eyes reddened by the tears. "I know, Rex...I just...I just don't know what to do... I mean..." His voice slipped into silence, fighting to find the words to say. But nothing would come to him. He suddenly broke into a run, leaping at Rex and knocking him down. He wrapped his red front legs around the dracovol's body and squeezed him tightly.

Rex gasped in surprise at this sudden gesture. He paused, unsure of what to do. Then, slowly, he wrapped his arms around Tanner, and hugged him back. "There..there..." He managed to say as they continued the hug with Chomper, Moss, and Brook watching.

Retaru, the new leader of the Darkarian pack, paced around impatiently on his rocky throne. He was waiting for his spy assassin to return for a few hours, but he saw no sign of the alimon. He was beginning to lose his patience, and the others knew to fear him when he loses his patience. Retaru was just as cruel of a leader as Gris was, and at times, even crueller.

He turned to one of his assistants, Sumaru, and demanded, "Where is he?! He should have been back now!"

The smaller alimon, now Advisor, said, "Calm down, sir. I'm sure he has a good reason to..."

"Keeping me waiting has no excuse!" Retaru snapped.

"I advice you settle down." Said a female alimon as she stepped into view. She was Retaru's mate and Gris's sister, Maize. She was golden yellow with black from her lower jaw and under her chest, belly, and underside of her tail. Some of the black spread from her underside to form a few bold stripes across her body. Her claws were black and her eyes were pale yellow against white. "You should learn to have a bit more patience. It wouldn't hurt, you know." Maize was sick and tired of Retaru's loss of patience and tempers.

"I know..I know..." Retaru stated, trying to allow himself to calm down. "It's just that I told Rennat to be back here couple hours ago. I hope he hasn't..."

"Hasn't what...?" A dark voice said as a figure entered the cave.

"So you're finally here, Rennat." Retaru said coldly. "I was beginning to think you betrayed us."

Rennat laughed. The light revealed him to be the very same alimon who attacked Sapphire, and the same one who looked near-idental to Tanner. "Sir, you created me. Why would I turn my back on my own creator?" He laughed at his own statement. "Anyway I do apologize for the delay. I was busy watching an interesting conversation."

"Oh?" Retaru had instantly forgotten about his earlier impatience, and coaxed the alimon to say more. "What kind of conversation?"

"It was between two residents in the valley, one a threehorn and the other a spiketail. They were discussing some rather interesting concepts, ideas. They just might prove useful for us, if we know just how to harness this..."

What the dark alimon said didn't make any sense at all to the Darkarian leader. "What? What are you talking about?!" He snapped, "You didn't make any sense!"

"They were talking about a world none of us can see or visit..but is there. They talked about a world where powerful creatures, rivalling us alimons, live, and fight to the death. They would be perfect to join us and take down the Rock Rangers!" Rennat said, hoping this cleared things up with his leader.

Sumaru narrowed his eyes. The black and red alimon was suspicious of these claims. "Just how do you know these plant-eaters knew what they were talking about? I mean if this world wasn't accessable, how do they know it exists?"

"They know because the forsaken showed it to them." Rennat stated.

"The forsaken..." The alimons in the room were wide-eyed and astonished. They knew well of who the forsaken were, but why would they even think of showing the dinosaurs a world of unimaginable power? Is it to try and turn the dinosaurs against each other? To try and destroy each other? "I heard about them. They hate dinosaurs. Why would they release such information?" Sumaru inquired. "I say it's a trap."

"Or it could be opportunity knocking on our doors." Retaru stated, standing up. "We shall look more into this mysterious world..Perhaps even try and gain entry. We shall have enough members to smite the Rock Rangers and their precious valley once and for all!"

Maize nodded. She wasn't as aggressive as her mate, but just as hateful. She could never forgive what that stupid blue sharptooth did to her own brother. "It may be risky, but anything is better than just sitting here, watching our enemies live."

"It's settled then. Sumaru!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Go into the valley and locate the threehorn and spiketail and bring them here!" Retaru commanded.

"But sir, I don't even know what they look like." Sumaru complained. "How am I going to find them?"

"I can tell you what they looked like." Rennat stated. "The threehorn is missing one of his horns. He's white with a gray underside. His name is Gary. The spiketail's name is Thorn and she is pink with red plates on her back and a light peach underside. I hope that's a good enough description for you."

Sumaru nodded and went to do his assigned duty. Rennat was about leave as well, but he was called back. "What do you want, Retaru?" He said almost bitterly. "I thought you wanted me to kill my original's mate."

"Yes..Yes I do." Retaru said. "But not now. I have another target for you."

"Oh? And who might that be?"

"Your original. Tanner..."

(A/N There, I hope you all enjoyed this extra chapter. This story will still remain on hiatus, however. I may or may not resume typing chapters around January 2007.) 


	7. A Plot For Revenge

(A/N Okay sorry for the delay in this chapter. The story is still on hiatus because I'm having writer's block. So this chapter isn't as long as the previous chapter. And this chapter has forced me to raise the rating to M due to the nature of Tanner's dream.)

Part I: The Warning

"Leader...at least you have arrived." Aquamarine said respectfully as a black being came into view. The blue spirit was almost paralyzed in fear. The black spirit with glowing yellow eyes was the largest, oldest, and strongest of all the Forsaken. He backed away, allowing the black spirit to float past him without a word.

"My Lord," Thunderstorm said, with not as much respect as Aquamarine, "Why have you left me to guard against something that..." She silenced herself when the leader looked at her eerily with those yellow eyes. Something about those eyes paralyzed her as much as Aquamarine. She backed away as the leader head towards the center. Behind him came the other members of the Forsaken, each their own special color. There were at least a hundred members crowding the area, and Aquamarine and Thunderstorm were almost squashed in between several other Forsaken spirits.

As the spirits stopped gathering, the leader spoke up from the middle. "My fellow flamebreaths, I am pleased to announce that our plan is starting to follow through." Thunderstorm and Aquamarine were confused at first until they recalled the meeting last week when their Lord was devising a plan to trick the dinosaurs. "Our messenger, Verde," he eyed a green spirit with blue eyes, "has delivered a message to a couple dinosaurs, which has then been passed on to the alimons. With any luck, those fool Darkarians will try to open a bridge between the worlds, and hopefully get rid of our enemies!"

The dragon spirits cheered for a few seconds before being silenced by the black spirit. "In addition, the other plan will go into effect very soon." When he stated this, he got a lot of confused questions from the puzzled dragons. It's then he realized something. "Oh right! I never told you all about my other plan." He chuckled. "Very well, I will explain to you. I am sure you all are aware of Rex, the dracovol that defeated one of our finest warriors."

A couple flamebreaths laughed and jeered. "Yeah! Defeated by a dinosaur!" One of them laughed.

"How pathetic!"

"Yeah, what a way to become a fallen warrior!"

"SILENCE!" The lead flamebreath snarled, making the other spirits cower in fear. "Aquamarine is still a great warrior, despite such a dishonorable loss against a puny creature. And it's because of this Rex character that our revenge did not come full circle. So I devised a plan to make sure he does not interfere again..."

"Are we going to kill him?" Asked an excited dragon spirit.

"No..that did not work the last time." The black spirit eyed Thunderstorm angrily. "We will not kill Rex this time. No...instead I will bring one of his worst nightmares to life."

A white spirit gasped in horror. "You're going to turn him into a girl?!"

"Yes, I'm going to turn him into a gi-WHAT?! NO!" The black spirit yelled. This resulted in a chuckle from most of the Forsaken members. Even Thunderstorm was laughing. The lead dragon, named DarkMidnight, didn't find this amusing, and growled to silence the others. "No what I have planned for him is a bit more...interesting..." He took in a deep breath, and continued, "I'm going to transform him back into a monster." He looked at Aquamarine. "And since you are the closest link to the dinosaur, you will be the one to do so."

"But, DarkMidnight, sir, he defeated me..." Aquamarine tried to protest.

"No buts. You will try again, soldier. You have another chance."

Not able to protest, Aquamarine submitted to the leader's request. "As you commant, my Lord. I will try and do my best this time." He said softly.

"Good. Now go." The black spirit narrowed his eyes. Aquamarine nodded and disappeared from the group. A white flash appeared, and the spirits knew that Aquamarine was now in the physical world. DarkMidnight turned his eyes on Thunderstorm. "And as for you, I have another task for you..."

Rennat had left the Darkarian hideout and was walking out, searching for his new target, Tanner. He didn't understand why he had to go after his original. It's not that he doesn't want to kill Tanner, it's just that he doesn't see the point in it. He didn't believe the light red alimon was much of a threat to their plans. But he couldn't disobey Retaru. "I wonder where he could be, anyway."

As he continued his walk along the edge of the Great Valley, he looked out at the beautiful valley. He did not understand the fascination with it. He did not understand how the dinosaurs thought this place was beautiful. To the created monster, it was downright awful. The plant-eaters enjoying life with no predators in sight. It sickened Rennat. He was glad to have been created on the Darkarian's side. He believed they had the right view on things. They would be the masters of this valley, and transform it to the way it should be: a paradise for alimons.

"No wonder my original is so weak and soft...He was a Rock Ranger after all." He hated how Rock Ranger felt on his tongue, and he grimaced as he spoke the term. Rennat had never met Tanner before, but he knew what he looked like. "That pack has always been weak... I could have killed Sapphire if I wanted to. And perhaps I should have...she would have given the Rock Rangers warnings, so I can't sneak inside the caves..."

His attention was driven away when he caught the scent of his opposite. He grinned savagely. "Yes...he's close..." He lowered his head, and began to sneak towards the scent, claws tense for the pounce.

Chelsey headed towards her own burrow in the Rock Ranger's home. She was tired, and wanted to get some sleep. She wasn't truly fearful of the presence of Tanner's doppleganger. In fact, she would even dare the creature to attack her. But she did understand the threat he posed to the pack as a whole, and she was worried about him attacking a younger, inexperienced member of the pack.

Just as she made a turn, she bumped into a solid blue figure. She snarled and backed away. "All right, who is there?!"

"Relax, Chelsey, it's me, Cobalt!" The figure cried, backing away from the snarling Advisor.

Chelsey settled down a bit, realizing her mistake. "I'm sorry Cobalt. I did not recognize you at first."

Cobalt chuckled. He was a solid blue color, with blue eyes and blue claws and blue feathers. Some of his feathers were ripped due to battles against the Darkarians. He carried no scars though. Everyone said he was lucky. Darkarian attacks often leave at least one scar behind, but Cobalt beat the odds, and all his cuts healed without problem.

Chelsey never admitted it, but she did have some feelings for the solid blue alimon. She held a deep respect for him. Cobalt had been appointed General and, while he wasn't as good as Donovan or Zitro were, he was still a great leader for their army. But thinking about the time when he was appointed General brought back an unpleasant memory for Chelsey.

She recalled how Tanner was supposed to become General. Alimons had commented he would be a good General and serve them well. But Tanner had left, and so the job went to Cobalt instead. Chelsey still felt bitter for the light red alimon, and sometimes referred to him as a traitor, even though he had never committed any threat against the pack, even after he left. But she couldn't feel that angry about him. In the end, she mostly felt disappointed in his decision to leave the pack.

"I apologize for startling you." Cobalt said, interrupting Chelsey's thoughts. "I'll be more careful next time."

"Sorry..I was just thinking about this Tanner doppleganger." Chelsey said, a soft look on her face. "It's got me a bit worried."

Cobalt raised an eyebrow. "Tanner? Isn't he that alimon that betrayed us years ago?"

Chelsey winced a little. He knew Cobalt was one of the few alimons who believed Tanner was nothing but a traitor, even if he hadn't joined the Darkarians or anything, and held a hatred for him. Chelsey felt relieved that most of the alimons in the pack forgave Tanner a long time ago, and are willing to let him rejoin the pack. But she fears for him if he does return, and he has to face the few who hate him for leaving the pack.

"He didn't betray us, Cobalt. He was just..upset..."

"Upset and he attacked Sapphire and left us!" Cobalt snapped, but before he could continue, he recieved a warning snarl from the Advisor.

"I'm warning you, if he does return, I will NOT tolerate you or any of your friends giving him a hard time. He will be treated like he was still a member of the pack. I do not care if you are the General, Cobalt. I may be only the Advisor, but I can easily strip you of your rank if you disobey my orders, understand?!"

Cobalt gulped, and backed away. "Y-Yes..." The General turned and walked away. But he was stopped by Chelsey. "What is it this time?" He asked, looking over at her.

"If you happen to see Tanner's doppleganger, however, you have my permission to kill him." Chelsey said, her glare hardening.

"Acknowledged." Cobalt said, breaking into a run.

The light blue female watched him leave, her anger slowly subsiding. This wasn't the first time she had to defend Tanner's reputation from some angry alimons. It was starting to get to her. She hoped the alimon would return and redeem himself soon. Speaking of which, she began to wonder where he was nowadays. She hasn't seen him since the day he left. She didn't even know if he was still alive or not.

"Tanner...where are you?" She asked to no one in particular before going towards her burrow for a rest.

Tanner roared viciously, blood staining his mouth and his claws. He was racing across a field, the grass colored red, the sky was a darker red. He was blinded by hatred and anger. He targetted his helpless victims, the Darkarians, as they tried to escape his wrath. He ripped them apart, one by one. He let their intestines fall out, coating the grass in even more redness.

One tried to escape, but he turned around, and bite into their throat. Another jumped onto him, but he countered with a strike to their chest, blood gushing out. Tanner could taste their blood in his mouth, and it only made him wilder.

He saw Gris standing before him. Anger tensing through his body, he lunged, and dug his claws deep into Gris's flesh, loving the sound of his screaming. He then saw two figures running away. He looked over. He recognized him as RedEyez the raptor and Haze, another Darkarian. Feeling unbelievable rage against these two, he turned around, leaving Gris's bloodied body behind, and ran towards them, and latched onto RedEyez first.

He gripped RedEyez's head, and ripped it apart. RedEyez couldn't even get a scream out. His brain was fully exposed, but intact. Tanner then bit down onto the brain and ripped it clean off the stem and threw it to the ground. The black raptor fell down, mouth wide open, eyes hanging out of their sockets.

He then leapt at Haze. The Darkarian stood no chance as the black talons dug into his back. He squealed in pain, and struggled to free himself. He cried out in pain when Tanner gripped his face. Before the Darkarian could defend himself, the claws dug deeper into his facial skin, and, with one powerful swipe, Tanner ripped the skin clear off Haze's face. A loud shrill came from Haze as he fell down, his skull exposed and his eyes still in tact.

Tanner stood over him, glaring at him coldly, before smashing his face by stomping onto him with his foot.

Suddenly Tanner felt the ground shake, and split open. He backed away, seeing a bright yellow figure rise from the ground. His body began to shake in rage. "You..." He said. It was Thunderstorm, Rex's murderer! He began to chase her as she flew away. He believed she was trying to get away, and he wasn't going to let her go. Tanner jumped up, but missed her completely.

He suddenly stopped when he saw Rex before him. The dracovol had his back turned, oblivious to what was going on. "Rex! Look out!" Tanner shouted, his eyes widened as Thunderstorm swooped down, talons opened to snatch Rex away from him once more. He lunged into the air, his own talons outstretched to strike a blow to the dragon's head, but suddenly Thunderstorm turned her attention on him, her claws enclosing around Tanner's body. He struggled to get free, but his body failed him. He glared hatefully at the dragon. "I hate you..."

Thunderstorm grinned. "Why thank you, alimon. I appreciate it..." She responded coldly, slightly tightening her grip around him. "I have invaded your mind to give you a message." She looked towards Rex as a glow surrounded him. "Look carefully, this is going to be the fate of your dear friend. Aquamarine will see to that."

Tanner's eyes widened in horror when he saw Rex suddenly transform back into the creature he was before, Dark Rex! "No..it can't be...No..." Thunderstorm laughed evilly as she released him. Tanner fell towards the ground as Dark Rex flew towards him, growing larger and larger in size. He opened up his mouth to swallow Tanner...

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Tanner suddenly awoke from the dream. He was shaking violently, tears smearing down his face. He could feel his heart beating against his chest. He looked around, and realized he had only been dreaming. His mind started to relax a little, but he still felt very uneasy. What did the dream mean? Was Thunderstorm telling the truth, or a horrible lie?

"Tanner, you okay?" He heard a familiar voice. He looked over to see Rex looking down at him, his dark blue eyes looking concerned and worried. "I heard you scream, and you were shaking and crying in your sleep..."

"I-I'm sorry Rex...It was just a bad dream...that's all."

"Mind telling me about it?" Rex asked.

"No..not now." The alimon quickly said. "I'll..tell you about it later. I don't want to think aobut it right now."

"Oh...all right then." The dracovol said before laying back down. Tanner also laid back down, and closed his eyes, unaware he was being watched... 


	8. Another World

(A/N Ack! I forgot all about updating this story! I'm sorry! Here's a new chapter update.)

Part I: The Warning

In another time, another place, in what appeared to be a completely new world, wind plowed the land, causing trees to sway violently to one side. It was a surprise they still stayed hooked into the ground. Another powerful blast of air came through, this time uprooting a single tropical tree and it slammed into the ground. A few other trees were slightly knocked, but hadn't fallen over just yet. As yet another blast came through, a squeal of pain accompanied it. Tall grass that surrounded the woodland area began to shudder violently as though the blasts were scaring them.

Suddenly, the grasses parted, revealing what looked to be a flightless bird, crowned with spikey feathers and possessed a massive beak. It had a single wound, a deep round hole, on its back, bleeding profusely from it. It let out another squeal as the blast returned, this time louder and sounding more like a bang than a gust of wind. It quickly tried to take shelter in a pile of rocks with an opening, but it didn't get very far...

BANG!

The bird's eyes widened as searing pain swept through its feathered form, starting at its back and then through its chest. It let out a loud screech before it toppled to the ground, a pool of blood forming around its body.

Another rustle in the grasses, and soon they parted, giving way to thick, scaly green feet as they stomped onto the ground. The figure looked human, but it had a reptilian look to it. It wore armor to protect itself, and its tail, hanging almost uselessly toward the ground, slowly moved left and right. The figure held a big gun close to its chest. Its scaly mouth parted, revealing small but very sharp teeth as it grinned devilishly.

As it approached, two more creatures like itself walked out, and slowly approached the fallen bird. When the first creature arrived beside the bird, it reached out with its long weapon, and gently prodded the animal on the side of its head. It didn't stir.

Then one of them spoke in a very hoarse growly voice. "Are you sure it is dead?"

The humanoid creature who shot the animal looked at the other sternly. "You want to check its pulse?" It knelt down, and effortlessly picked up the bird. "Come on, we must deliver this to Lord Tyrannus. He's getting hungry and you know how he is when he's hungry."

The three figures walked off back where they came from. As they disapppeared, the land became tranquil once more. The trees swayed to gentle breezes carressing it, the grass seemed to dance on the forest floor, which was decorated with other flora. A couple of deer ventured out when they were sure it was safe and started to nibble on the grass.

About where the humanoid creatures were, a chortling laugh could be heard as the one who took the shot bragged about how he hunted down the pathetic animal. "It was so scared. I almost felt sorry for shooting it down!"

"Almost..heh..That's a good one." One of his comrades stated as they continued their hike up the mountain where their Lord Tyrannus was awaiting them. None of them realized they were being watched with eyes filled with rage and determination.

"Lord Tyrannus will be pleased." Said the third green creature. "This is the tenth bird you brought to him this week!"

"Yeah, maybe if you keep up the good work, he'll raise your rank." Said the other green creature.

"Yeah well, I won't get my hopes up too high. Lord Tyrannus is very picky about raising the levels. He may decide to just demote me instead."

"Why would he--"

POOK!

A loud but nonexplosive sound was heard as an invisible bullet struck a nearby tree, grazing it. The three humanoid reptiles tensed up. They were followed! They quickly turned around and got into a fighting stance. They dropped the bird onto the ground, forgetting all about it. "What was that?!" One of them shouted as he and the others tried desperately to locate the source of the shot. But all they could see below them was densely grown plants, which provided an excellent hiding spot for the hitman.

Then a twig snapped, and they shifted their position slightly to the right. "I heard something!" The second green reptile took a closer glance, and he quickly spotted a patch of tannish skin and dark hair. "It's him!" He shouted, but before he could get another word out, a flash of green flashed in his eye. He screamed in pain as an arrow stabbed through his eye, blinding him. He quickly pulled the arrow out and marched forward, but something soon overcame him.

"Are you okay?!" Asked one of his comrades as they rushed to his side. The poisoned creature knelt down, holding his stomach, and he began to vomit.

"He's been poisoned! We can't help him now!" Furious, the third scaly creature took aim to where the arrow came from. "Come out, and we'll give you a quick death!" He fired a shot, and heard a grunt of pain. "He's over there!"

He leaped forward and held out his gun. He was going to try and bash the intruder's head open. But before he could make contact, before he could even see the hidden hitman, something flashed in front of him, something thin and purple. It hit him square in the chest. He let out a blood curdling scream and fell to the ground.

"What happened?!" Demanded the other humanoid creature as he ran to see what was going on. He screamed himself as he witnessed blood shooting all over the place. The strucken creature screamed in pain, his eyes widened, as his body was being ripped apart. His legs were shredded horribly, his arms were ripped off, and finally his head was disconnected at the base of the skull. His bleeding body fell to the ground. Horrified, the last reptile gulped and aimed his gun nervously around the patch of tall foliage, wondering where the assassin was.

He hard a clicking sound, and the sound of a shutter closing. He quickly turned around to fire, only to be looking down the twin barrel of a many-chambered gun. He heard a chuckle before the gun was activated, and the barrels started to turn round and round. Suddenly, without warning, the creature was bombarded with hundreds of bullets at once. He screamed in agonizing pain as metallic bullets ripped up his flesh, disconnecting his arm. Blood ran heavily out of the many wounds, and within seconds he was on the ground, struggling to get up. But he soon fell dead silent, and closed his eyes.

The assassin walked towards the bodies of the dead creatures, revealing himself to be a human. He had the looks of a native american, but what looked to be black stripes adourned his face. His eyes were blazed with anger and contempt. "Slegs..." He said as he stared at the body of the one-armed creature, a sleg, and kicked it. "Can't go anywhere without spotting one nowadays. Tyrannus must be planning something."

He heard a loud screech, and looked up. He smiled respectfully as he saw a familiar creature hover down toward him. The creature was a purple quetzalcoatl. On its back was a large saddle with two guns sticking out. It landed in front of the native and approached him slowly. It cooed in agreement and the man smiled again in return. "It's good to see you, my old friend." He jumped onto the pterosaur's back. "Come, we must report to the others." The large reptile took to the skies and started to fly in the opposite direction from which it came.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" A voice boomed in a tall and spooky castle. A large green fist slammed into a stony wall, cracking it slightly. It belonged to what looked like a sleg, but larger, with spikes sticking out of his back and a crocodile-like face. "THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN BACK TWO HOURS AGO! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!"

"Sir..if you would just calm down..." A sleg nervously spoke, but was met with a fist from the angry crocodile-like creature. He slammed into the wall, and moaned as he crawled back up.

"They must have been killed by that wretched human!" The creature, Lord Tyrannus as he was called, said with contempt. "That must be what happened, otherwise they would be back already! They were three of my best sleg warriors!"

Tyrannus peered out of his castle, and looked down at his domain. The humans have not yet overthrown him, and he is going to do everything in his power to make sure they never make it to his castle. The wretched humans must be stopped! He turned to a very large creature, easily twice the size of a normal sleg. "You! I want you scout the forests and bring back any human you find! Little children and woman preferred!"

"But sir.." The huge sleg asked, his voice deep, "..why? They won't be of any use to us."

"We're going to lure Turok to our..humble abode. If we destroy him, the other humans won't stand a chance against us." Tyrannus said, flexing the claws on his right hand as though to strike.

The large sleg wanted to protest, but he had to do what his master told him to. "As you wish, my Lord." And he took off, bringing a large gun with him. Lord Tyrannus looked back out of the castle, and grinned.

"Soon..my Son of Stone..soon.."

Back on Earth, Rennat was still watching Tanner and the others sleeping. He was trying to calculate the best move he could use to attack and kill Tanner before the others woke up. He knew he didn't have much time left. He could see a glint of sunlight appearing the horizon. He only had about an hour left, two at most, before the dinosaurs would start become lively again. 'I must make my move...' He thought. 'Or Retaru will have me for breakfast!'

He slowly approached, keeping himself low to the ground. He was careful not to emit a low menacing growl as he normally would have with his other prey. Tanner was in a deep sleep now, no longer twitching and screaming in a nightmare. Rennat licked his lips as he opened his mouth, his sharp teeth exposed. His hot breath hit Tanner on the back of his neck, but he did not stir.

'This is going to be too easy..' Rennat thought as he began to close his mouth around the back of Tanner's neck. Rennat planned on twisting the alimon's head swiftly until it broke. It would be a quick and painless death, and would be over in a matter of seconds. But just as his teeth began to touch the skin, a flash of gray filled his field of vision before severe pain wracked his skull as he was thrown backwards.

The scream woke up Tanner and Rex, Chomper sleeing right through it. They rubbed their heads as they tried to get over the initial grogginess. They saw a dark red alimon staggering to his feet, and a gray alimon standing right in front of them, his backed turned to them. Tanner looked closely at Rennat, and his eyes suddenly narrowed. "He's a Darkarian!" He spat, his voice laced with venom. He could see the X scar on the alimon's shoulder.

The gray alimon didn't say a word, but continued to glare at the Darkarian. He attacked again, slamming his body into the Darkarian, knocked him several feet away. Rennat struggled back to his feet and lunged at the gray alimon, who dodged and struck his talons into Rennat's back, causing him to scream in pain. "Why don't you just give up?" The alimon spoke in a voice that caused Tanner's eyes to wide with shock, but got no such response from his look-alike. "No Darkarian has ever defeated me in battle!"

"That voice...it..it can't be..." Tanner whispered as he backed away. "He..he died..."

"Who died?" Rex asked as he watched the fight. He hadn't noticed anything initially familiar about the gray alimon. But when he took a closer look, he recognized him. "No way...I-I thought he disappeared long ago."

"So did I..." Tanner said, gulping. "I was told he and his mate..were killed long ago, back when I was still young..."

The gray alimon sank his teeth into Rennat's neck and forced him into the ground. Rennat cried out in pain, struggling to push the other off of him. He struck the gray alimon on his chest, causing him to scream and let go of the dark red dinosaur's neck. Rennat took this opportunity to slam into the gray alimon, forcing him onto the ground.

"You should have just stayed out of my way, you old fool! But I guess I'll just have to kill you too..."

"I may be old, but I'm certainly no quitter!" The gray alimon shouted with courage as he got up and grabbed Rennat's head again, this time charging with him and slamming the alimon into the hard surface of a tree trunk. Rennat let out a loud scream of pain as the gray alimon let go of him, letting the Darkarian fall onto his stomach. "So you give up?"

Rennat wanted to say no and attack the old timer again, but it was then he realized that Tanner and Rex were now fully awake. He was outnumbered now. He growled in frustration and backed away. "You haven't seen the last of me.." He warned before turning around and dashing off.

Tanner slowly approached, his eyes still wide with shock. "A-Are you...who I think you are?" He asked cautiously, as though he thought he was dreaming. It couldn't be him... After all these years..it just couldn't be...

The alimon turned around. "Nice to see you Tanner."

Rex and Tanner gasped. Those golden eyes, those red claws, that silvery skin, those cloud paws...they could only belong to one alimon, the same alimon who disappeared years ago along with his mate, the alimon whom everyone thought was killed in a raid against the Darkarians...it was...

"STONE?!" 


	9. Exile Part 1: The Kidnapping

(A/N: I deeply apologize for taking so incredibly long to write this chapter. I haven't been in a writing mood lately, and I'm trying to sort out my thoughts because a lot of things are going on at once.) 

Part I: The Warning 

"STONE?!" 

The cry of disbelief ran through the silver alimon's ears, and he flinched, the sound a bit too loud for him, as his ears have become more sensitive over the years. Considering his old age, this came as a surprise to him. His hearing should have decreased a little, not increase. No matter, he turned to look into the eyes of the one who called out his name, Tanner. The light red alimon, laced with green stripes and a beige underside, took a step back as the former leader of the Rock Rangers walked up to him. The alimon has been through a lot, it seems. There was a lot of scarring, especially on the face and flanks. His once cheerful expression was erased, to be replaced with a much more grim look. Any signs of humor seemed to have long disappeared. 

"I-I don't believe it.." Tanner finally spoke. "Y-y-you can't be alive... Everyone said..everyone thought you were DEAD!" He exclaimed in disbelief. 

"Highly exaggerated..." Stone said. Tanner could have sworn he heard a hint of bitter humor in Stone's voice. "I am alive..and so is my mate. Tree-star." 

As he called out his mate's name, Rex, Tanner, and Chomper noticed movement from behind the old-aged male. A new figure stepped up in the form of another alimon. This one lacked the long feathers, so it must have been a female. Her bright green skin became visible, with darker green stripes and spots covering her body. She, too, was scarred, and was far worse than Stone. Her flanks and legs were so badly scarred and distorted that it appears as though she could never lay eggs again. Her sweet eyes, once holding tenderness and love, now only filled with pain and hardened due to life alone with Stone. 

"TREE-STAR?!" Tanner exclaimed again, feeling his mind reeling, recalling events from years ago, the funeral that was held for both Stone and Tree-star, the months of mourning, preparation for new leadership, was all that for nothing? Tanner started to tremble. "You..you were both alive...Why did you never come back?" He was trying his best not to lose his temper. He remembered what happened the last time he did. 

"We...we could not." Tree-star spoke with her soft feminine voice. "We had to leave." 

"But how could you leave..at such a horrible time?" Tanner started to frown as he felt his anger rising up inside him again. "We were in a battle! We were in a war! You were supposed to lead us to victory! But instead you..you turned your back on us. You betrayed us all.." Tanner felt hot tears forming in his green eyes. He could taste the salt in his own tears as they trinkled along his muzzle. 

"You're wrong." Tree-star said. "We betrayed no one." 

Tanner opened up his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Rex, who stood by his side. His face held not only anger, but disappointment as well. "If you did not betray anyone, then why did you leave in the first place?" He folded his arms. "Don't we have the right to know why you disappeared for so long, tricking us all into believing you were dead?" 

Stone slowly shook his head. "We did not mean to trick everyone. We did not leave because we wanted to...We left because we had to." Stone felt old wounds reopening as he relived the terrifying memory that seperated him from his beloved Rock Ranger pack. "If we didn't leave...we would have lost our children...to the Darkarians' wrath. We left to save our offspring..." 

Rex slightly tilted his head. "Your offspring? Save them? From what? They were doing fine in the battle..." 

"They..they were captured." Stone said. 

"They were being held captive by one of the Darkarians." Tree-star said. 

"But..I was in that battle.." Tanner spoke up. "I never saw any attempt at kidnap!" Stone walked over to Tanner and gently placed a paw on the younger alimon's shoulder. The latter pushed the paw away and backed up, a slight glare on his face. "Please..don't touch me." He warned, sounding slightly distrusting. 

Stone seemed puzzled. "Tanner..." He felt a slight nudge at his side. He turned to see Tree-star nudging her head into his long muscular neck. She looked into his eyes sadly. 

"I think we should tell them, Stone." She said calmly, her voice slightly shakey. Stone looked rather uncertain, and she knew she felt the same way. It had been many years since that day, and since then they had told no one about it, not even stray alimons they had come across while on their lonesome journey. She felt a single tear appear on her face. Upon seeing this, Tanner started to feel a little guilty. 

Tanner lowered his head slightly. "I'm...sorry. I hadn't meant to upset you, Tree-star." 

Tree-star shook her head. "No. No need for apology, Tanner. It's just that...we've been away for so long..and we haven't seen anyone in so many years." She felt a slight smile on her face. "It does feel good to be home." 

Stone nodded in agreement, but he sounded more urgent than his mate. "Yes, yes, it is good to be home, but...about what happened." He turned to the trio that stood before him. "I agree with Tree-star. We should tell you about what really happened that day, why we have been gone for so long." He gazed at the ground. "It's not something I am happy about remembering, or like to talk about, but...I'll tell you the story." 

FLASHBACK: 

It was during the Great Valley War. The Darkarians had gathered a few stray alimons into their packs to try to gain an advantage on the Rock Rangers. It was truly a battle to remember, a fight of wits, a fight to the death. Blood stained the valley's walls as dozens of alimons slammed into another, knocking them down, tearing their flesh with talons and fangs. A few dead bodies, horribly mangled, were strewn across the floor, and trampled as other alimons stomped over them, trying to knock off their opponents. 

One of the Darkarians, Haze, was tangling with an angry light red alimon named Tanner. The two males faced off, their feathers straightening up as they hissed, trying to scare off the other. Sharp claws clanked against the rock face as the males circled each other, looking for an opening to strike. Haze finally spoke. "So, Tanner...how is your precious mate doing?" 

Tanner's eyes blazed with hatred. "Don't you dare bring her up!" He stomped the floor with a front paw. "You know how much I hate it when you talk about Sapphire in the middle of a fight!" 

"Tsk tsk tsk...Such a temper." Haze waved his talon from side to side in a scolding manner. "You mustn't lose control." He chuckled. "You just might hurt the one you love some day." 

The other snarled viciously. "I would never hurt Sapphire!" 

The green alimon only chuckled again. "Are you so sure about that...?" He sneered. "You seem to be the type to strike a female...literally." Tanner roared in frustration. "You believe me, don't you? You believe what I say..when I say that you and I are alike. I struck down a female myself..." 

Tanner's eyes looked as thought they turned red with rage. Haze had killed Ezma, one of Stone's siblings, sometime ago. They never found her body, but they knew of her death through reports from a scout. Tanner had never been too close to Ezma, but he felt pained about her loss. His hatred for the Darkarians started to increase from that day forward. He had vowed revenge on Haze and RedEyez. He had yet to get RedEyez, but he wasn't going to let Haze get away this time. 

"Why you..." He lunged forward, slamming himself into Haze's body and managed to knock him down. He stood over the other male, fangs bared. "I should KILL you for what you did to Ezma!" 

"Oh but TanTan..." Haze said mockingly. 

"Don't call me that!" Tanner shouted. 

"You don't have it in you to kill." Haze continued, without paying attention to what Tanner had just said. "You had multiple opportunities to kill me in the past, and you always pass it up." He chuckled. "That is why I know you will let me go...just like you always had before." He stared up at Tanner, expecting the light red alimon to do exactly what he had done before. Tanner would start to feel guilty and doubtful. He would release his grip on Haze. Then Haze would take off, making fun of Tanner as he ran off. But the moment Haze knew was coming...never came. 

Haze felt a slight tinge of fear when Tanner continued to hold him down, and not only that, but his grip was tightening. He could feel Tanner's talons sinking into his skin. Tanner had an eerie smile on his face, and an insane laugh escaped his throat. "Oh, oh you think I'm going to set you free THIS time, Haze?! Oh no..this time I'll see to it that you NEVER RETURN!" 

Tanner lifted up a paw and hovered it above Haze's head. The green alimon felt, for the first time against the red alimon, his eyes widen in sheer terror as the talons crept close to his face. At first they moved ever so slowly, and Haze pondered if Tanner was just joking and was only trying to scare him. He was proven wrong in a few seconds. In those few seconds Tanner struck down hard. His claws dug into Haze's head. He quickly pulled down, tearing away a huge chunk of skin with him. It clung to the alimon's black talons. 

Shrieking in agonizing pain, Haze knocked away Tanner and got up. Tanner had managed to tear away part of the skin on his face, about half of it. Bone and muscle was exposed, stinging in pain as it was exposed to the air around him. His left eye was stinging with pain and covered in blood. All he could see was red out of that eye. 

He felt something heavy push him into the ground and screamed in pain as Tanner's claws began to shear away at his skin and dug into his muscle flesh. "No! Stop! Please!" He begged, tears streaming from his good eye. "Don't do this! Let me go!" 

"Is this how Ezma was...?" Haze strained to look at Tanner's dark face with his good eye. "Was Ezma begging like this..?" When the bright green alimon didn't answer, he dug his claws deeper into the other's skin, resulting in a scream from Haze. "WAS SHE?!" 

"Y-YES!" Haze screamed, frantically trying to scramble away. But Tanner's weight and strength was holding him right there. 

"And you just kept laughing at her...You kept on causing her pain...Didn't you..?" This time he didn't bother waiting for an answer. "Well now..I'm going to let you FEEL HER PAIN!!!" He gripped Haze by his head. The Darkarian panicked, and tried to pry himself loose. Tanner wrapped his paws around Haze. It looked like a hug, but it was a deadly embrace to keep the green dinosaur from escaping. 

He began to tighten his jaws around Haze's skull, focusing mostly on the cranium, where he knew Haze's brain was just underneath the bone. All he had to do was crack it open... 

"NO! PLEASE! RELEASE ME! I'M BEGGING YOU! I'M SORRY!" Haze cried, unafraid to hide his tears. Tanner only continued to increase the pressure... 

Elsewhere, Stone was facing off against another Darkarian. Suddenly a horrible cry of pain rang out, which distracted the Darkarian for a few precious seconds. "H-Haze...?" He stammered, a feeling of disbelief rising inside. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck. Before he could get another word out, his head was violently twisted to one side, and there was a sickening crack as his neck snapped. Stone released his grip on the Darkarian, letting him fall limp on the ground. 

From behind him, another Darkarian lunged towards him, and attempted to bite him. Stone quickly moved out of the way and slammed his paws into the alimon's back, striking him down. "Nice try!" Stone proclaimed as he ripped out the other's throat. This battle felt a bit too easy for him. But he silently prayed it would remain this way. He knew his pack was tiring. If they could just drive away a few more Darkarians, the others may get discouraged and flee for themselves. 

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!" The familiar scream of his beloved mate rang out and quickly the Rock Ranger leader ran to the source of the scream. He found his mate on the ground, struggling to get away. At the other end was another female. Stone immediately recognized who it was. It was Mona, Tree-star's former friend and a high-ranking Darkarian. The black female's claws were tearing up Tree-star's flanks. Her entire lower half was covered in thick oozing blood. There were many long deep gashes on her sides and legs. 

"TREE-STAR!" Stone yelled in horror and dashed towards Mona. Mona looked up and noticed the lead Rock Ranger heading towards her. She immediately released her grip on the bright green alimon and fled. Once Stone was sure she was gone, he turned his attention back towards Tree-star. He felt his eyes water. "Tree-star...are you all right?" 

The female said, "Yes..I'm okay..." She struggled to get up, but her legs were so badly cut up that she fell back down, a cry of pain escaping as she landed on the rough ground. She felt her mate gently nuzzle her. "I'll live." 

Stone stood by Tree-star's side, allowing her to lean against him as she stood up again. His gray body supported her, and he managed to walk her over to her old nest where Siria, or Dynamo as he likes to be called now, was born. He turned around to leave, but the exit was blocked. Standing before him was a rather large Darkarian, looking to be about the same size Fire was. Stone growled and prepared to attack, but the Darkarian merely smirked and held up a paw. 

"Uh uh..I wouldn't do that if I were you, Stoney boy." The Darkarian smirked. 

Stone growled. "And why wouldn't I want to do this?" 

"You wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your young ones...now would you?" The Darkarian inquired knowingly, an evil twinkle in his eyes. 

Stone gasped. "You-You don't mean you..." 

To answer his question, the Darkarian stepped aside. Right behind him were three more Darkarians, each one holding one of their offspring. Each one was struggling to get away, but was held down firmly, a hot mouth placed on the back of their necks, positioned to snap them in seconds. Stone tried to move forward, but stopped himself when one of his sons cried out as the pressure on the back of his neck increased significantly. 

At a loss, Stone turned to the Darkarian, and glared angrily. "W-What do you want..?" 

"Oh it's simple, Silver Freak." The Darkarian chuckled. "Hear me out, and your children may live..." Stone had to choice but to let the Darkarian speak his demands. 

"State your business, StormWhite..." 

(A/N And that ends part one. Credit goes to EbonyPatriot for coming up with the idea on why Stone and Tree-star have been gone for so long.) 


	10. Interruption

(A/N: I deeply apologize again for the delay. This was due to a severe writer's block, as I could not figure out what to do for this chapter. It's short because I couldn't come up with much for what should happen in this chapter.)

Part 1: The Warning

Stone stopped his story, his eyes closed as emotion started to overwhelm him a bit. To recall such a horrible memory was difficult on both him and his mate. He felt Tree-star's muzzle nuzzling against his cheek as he drew in deep breaths to regain his composure. Tanner and Rex looked at each other and then turned their gaze back onto the former Rock Ranger leader, waiting for him to continue with his story.

"So..what was this plan of his?" Rex asked softly.

"Yeah..what happened next?" Tanner asked, sounding interested.

Stone looked at the two dinosaurs in the eyes. He was about to respond when footsteps diverted his attention away from the story and to behind Rex and Tanner. "Chomper?" Tanner and Rex looked behind them and noticed Chomper, beside him were the two longneck children. Rex and Tanner were shocked that they had nearly forgotten about these three. Chomper's eyes were a bit wide with fear.

"Sorry to interrupt this story, but we've got a situation here!" He shouted, and looked behind him nervously. "Littlefoot's coming!"

"Littlefoot? You mean that young longneck we met so long ago?" Tree-star inquired. "Oh how's he been?"

"I don't think you'd wanna see him now..." Chomper said as he ushered the two young longnecks into a concealing hole nearby to protect them. "He's possessed!"

Stone blinked. "Possessed? Possessed by what..? Hunger? Anger?"

Tree-star nudged him. "I don't think they mean 'what'..I think they mean 'who'..."

"Yes, that is right." Chomper said, his eyes glaring softly. "I was possessed by this same being about five years ago. It was a Darkarian plot to destroy the valley...And it almost succeeded.." His gaze was downcast. "So much death...the valley had wreaked of it."

"What?!" Stone exclaimed. "The Darkarians did that?! Such sick fools.." He growled softly. "They know not the dangers they are playing with..."

"To make matters worse, the one that had possessed me, the one that is currently controlling Littlefoot, is none other than FIRE himself." Chomper said.

The mere mention of Fire had sent chills up Tree-star's spine and caused Stone's face to contort into a mixture of shock and anger. Stone's claws dug into the ground and his sharp teeth bared. "Fire...Impossible..I killed him...I killed him!"

"That's what I thought as well..and you and I are right." The carnotaurus closed his eyes. "It was Fire's spirit that possessed me, and controlled me. It was Fire's plan all along, to get revenge on the Great Valley. And now he's back, and ready to continue what he started five years ago." The red eyes reopened. "We must protect these two longnecks here." He motioned to where the two youngsters hid. "Especially Brook..for he holds the power to stop Fire for good."

"I certainly hope so..." Rex grumbled. "This madness has gone on for too long.."

"But are we even certain that this mere child holds any such power?" Tanner asked, looking somewhat suspiciously at who used to be General Chomper. "He's just a kid. He can't possibly be able to..." He was stopped when the dracovol glared at him softly.

"You would be surprised by what a 'mere child' can do..."

They all became silent when they felt the footfalls of a fully grown longneck heading their way. The trees shook, and some leaves had broken off, floating almost serenely in the light breeze. The blue sharptooth bared his teeth as he prepared for what he thought was going to be a forced battle between him and his old longneck friend, Littlefoot.

The footsteps drew closer and closer..and then suddenly they stopped. Then the dinosaurs started to hear voices.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's none of your business!"

"Look I'll deal with them myself! That is my job!"

"No..you had best leave them to me. I know them better than you."

"What are you talking about, brother? We both knew them well..."

"Yes...but I knew them for even longer..."

"Do you know who I am?!"

"Yes...but I don't care...Let me handle this one. You make a mistake and you're done for!"

"But..."

"NOW!!"

The group of dinosaurs heard the sound of footfalls again, but this time they grew softer and softer, and they knew that Littlefoot, possessed by Fire, had been told off by someone else.

"I wonder who that was..." Rex said, scratching his chin. "It sounded so familiar..."

"In fact..TOO familiar..." Tanner growled. "Something is not right..."

"Too familiar eh? Well of course I should be familiar... After all I used to be your commanding officer." The voice said, now much closer than before.

"Wha...?" Stone said, in complete disbelif, as the figure stepped out into full view.

The figure was another alimon. It adorned a black skin that covered its entire body. Long feathers showed its gender: male. The feathers, some blue, some black, were ripped up and shredded. Scars snaked across his body like battle scars. Cold, blue eyes set on a heavily scarred face, and teeth were exposed in an almost evil grin, the alimon walked slowly forward. He had dirty white claws, and a huge X scar adorned both of his shoulders as well as his chest. His long tail swayed back and forth.

"No...no... It can't be.." Stone backed away, his body shaking. "It couldn't be you..."

"Oh couldn't it..?" The figure grinned.

"You wouldn't..!" Tree-star cried.

"You didn't!" Tanner was just as shocked.

"Oh yes I would..I could..and I did." The black alimon laughed. "Now Stone...let's see if all those years alone has taught you any new moves..." The alimon lunged forward.

(A/N I apologize for the shortness of his chapter. Darn writer's block..but at least I managed to write something eh?) 


	11. Cannibal Verses Advisor

(A/N: I deeply apologize for the few months delay in getting this up. I'm starting to become unsure what to write in the future chapters. I'm also working on the other LBT fanfic, Desolation. To top that off, I'm working on 2 different comics, an alimon one, and a fancomic abou Chomper. I apologize.)

Part II: The Plan

Stone felt his body shaking as fear, and disbelief, filled him up. Here he was, face to face with a familiar figure. He had dreamed of meeting up with this individual for years. But not like this... He kept closing his eyes, shaking his head, hoping the image would disappear. But everytime he looked, he only saw the same figure. The one that was glaring down at him with an intent on fighting him.

The figure had pitch black skin, blue coloring his underside, blue stripes decorating his back. His eyes, a pair of blue. But looking closer, Stone noticed a few differences. This alimon's eyes had a red sliver in each of them, and the alimon bore three X scars, one on his chest and each on his shoulders. But the voice, and the scent..they remained the same. There was no doubt in his mind who this alimon was.

"D-D-Donovan...?" Stone asked, backing a bit from the larger alimon. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me, you silver freak!" Donovan barked in a tone that reminded Stone so much of Fire. The gray alimon flinched at the name 'silver freak'. Donovan chuckled darkly, flexing his large white claws. "It's been so long, dear Stone.. Aren't you going to..greet an old FRIEND?!"

Stone quickly dodged as a black muzzle snapped down at him, missing his neck. He looked at Donovan with a shocked face. "Why are you doing this, Donovan? Why did you join the Darkarians?" Another attack, Stone was not able to dodge this one. He felt himself being pushed into the ground, the larger alimon on his back, digging his talons into the silver dinosaur's skin. Stone attempted to push his old friend off of him, but Donovan proved to be stronger. It might have had something to do with him being with the Darkarians for so long.

"Heheheh. You haven't figured it out, did you?" Donovan cooed. "Well let's just say I got tired of waiting around for you to return... so I decided to have a little fun." This sounded so different from the old Donovan that it scared Stone. "I should have listened to Axel and joined the Darkarians in the first place! I saw how wrong I was to follow YOUR vision!"

He tightened his grip, resulting in a howl of pain from his victim. "Fire was right about you. You WERE ruining the pack. Now it's time for me to finish what my brother started!"

These words stung the silver alimon. He would have expected them from Fire himself, but not from Donovan. What hurt the most is how close he and Donovan were when he was still leader. Heck, the blue-striped male would often defend Stone's beliefs, and kept everyone in line. After all these years, how could he betray him like this?

"Any last words?" Donovan asked, raising his paw up in the air. Defeating Stone seemed all to easy. Why hadn't Fire thought of this before?

"Yes..." Stone craned his head, his yellow eye peering at the larger individual. "...How could you do this..? How could you turn your back on beliefs you held so dear for so long..?"

Donovan chuckled. He sneered down at his former leader, and opened his jaws to respond. But he couldn't even get a word out. Something was stopping him. A sharp pain gripped him in the side. The black alimon roared in pain, and reared onto his hind legs. This gave Stone the opportunity to squeeze out and escape his clutches. Donovan felt a pain in the back of his neck and he was thrusted into the ground.

He thrashed violently, roaring loudly, bucking wildly like a modern day horse. He finally felt himself being released, but the teeth of his attacker slashed across his neck, blood dribbling down and onto the ground. The Darkarian hissed, and looked up. His eyes widened as he saw his attacker. He would have expected Tanner to attack him, or Rex, or even Chomper.

But not her...

"Tree-Star?" Stone gaped in disbelief. His mate was never the violent time, never the type to willingly attack anyone. But, in a rush of adrenaline, the normally placid alimon had lunged onto the back of their former pack member, and started to rake his back with her claws and sank her teeth into his neck.

The female stood on all fours defiantly, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "No one does that to my mate... Not even YOU Donovan."

Donovan couldn't help but smile. This was a side of Tree-star he's never seen before. In a way he liked it. Maybe she was finally showing some backbone. Him against her, that would make for an interesting battle. He grinned, and started to walk towards the leaf-green alimon. "My, my, what an interesting and unexpected turn of events."

"Tree-star, NO!" Stone called out. "Don't do it!"

"You saved me from Mona." Tree-star explained. "Now it's my turn to save yours."

"You really don't know what your getting yourself into, do you, dear sweet Tree-star?" Donovan sneered.

"You underestimate me, Donovan." Tree-star simply responded, lowering her head in attack mode. "I'm not as much of a weakling as everyone had thought I was..."

A pair of wings filled the skies, and a screech rang through the air, echoing off the mountains. The wings belonged to a large flyer, a quetzalcoatlus. It continued its peaceful soaring across the mountain floor, but then suddenly it did a nose dive, screeching as it did so. From on top of its back, what looked like white bullets shot out, and collided with a humanoid figure. As it made contact, the figure screamed, and fell to the ground, pools of blood forming around it.

The quetzalcoatlus then quickly pulled up to dodge what looked like a tank as it fired at it. Seeing a clear path to the left, the quetzalcoatlus quickly banked to the left, and disappeared into the path, leaving its enemies behind. When one took a closer look at this creature, they would see it was wearing a large headdress and a saddle, a machinegun mounted onto it. Sitting in the saddle was a native american, the same one who previously took out a few slegs.

The man pulled on the handle to make the quetzalcoatlus go through a small tunnel. It was a shortcut to where he had to go. He was on his way to visit the Seer, a wise old man with sharp teeth and scary humanoid guardians. He hadn't visited the Seer in so long. Even though he was now Turok, the Seer still remained to be of assistance, and to guide him whenever he needed it.

And right now, he needed some guidance.

"What is it today that is making my heart fill with worry, old friend?" He asked, patting the back of his flyer's wings. The pterosaur seemed to coo in affection, obviously not understanding a word what he just said. Tal'Set did not expect any response. "There is a disturbance with the time-space continuum again..." He closed his eyes. "Just like the one that brought me to this world..."

Outside of the Rock Ranger's abode, a light blue alimon stood out, staring off into the horizon. A deep sigh escaped her mouth. A lot of things had been on her mind recently. The hardened Advisor couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt after she scolded Cobalt the way she did. But he did need a stern talking to. But she couldn't help but wonder if she should have let him believe what he wished.

"Maybe I should go talk to him..." Chelsey said to herself, raising her body off the ground, and heading off back into the cave. She then heard a noise that caught her attention. A rustling sound that came from the distance. She shot her head up, and squinted to try and get a better view. She could see what appeared to be a figure jumping behind a bush, making its way toward the Rock Ranger's home.

"Grr...not today, pal." Chelsey said as she jumped down, and began to make her way towards the intruder. "All right, pal, show yourself!" She stomped her foot on the ground to indicate she wasn't going to wait too long for him to do what she asked him to do.

"So who are you supposed to be?" The figure stepped out into view. "The welcoming commity? If you are, I'm not impressed." The figure grinned. Physically, he had the same pattern that Tanner had, but his colors were darkened, as if they were permanently bathed in shadow. Chelsey did not react, just simply stared at what must be the Tanner doppleganger.

"I don't know how you came into existance...but right now, I don't care." Chelsey said, snarling. "If you value your life, you'll turn around and leave at once!"

"And who is going to make me?" Rennat laughed coldly. "YOU?! Come on! No one can do squat to me! I'm too great of a fighter to be frightened off that easily!" He left out the detail that he was chased off by Stone. If he opened his mouth about Stone's return, the Rock Rangers might regain some strength they once had. He couldn't allow that to happen. "If my boss told me right, you were supposed to be a nurse!"

"I WAS a nurse." The light blue dinosaur responded coolly. "But I was given a promotion..and now I'm Second-in-Command of this pack." She pressed her muzzle against Rennat's. "And I will tell you again, turn around and leave before I hurt you."

Rennat stared at her before bursting into laughter, tears forming in his eyes. He was practically on the floor, rolling from side to side, obviously finding the thought of anyone killing him to be hilarious. Chelsey growled, not amused one bit. Without warning, she lunged forward, and sank her fangs into the back of Rennat's neck. The male yelped in surprise as he was thrusted up into the air, and then slammed back down. The force of him hitting the ground earned him a scratch on his left eye and a couple on his right cheek.

He quickly got up and retaliated by clamping down onto Chelsey's left hind leg. She screamed in pain as the male pulled her off balance and she hit the ground. Ignoring the pain in her leg and the blood now pooring out of it, she stopped Rennat's second advance with a blow across his shoulder. Four deep gashes appeared, blood pooring from them. Rennat growled angrily, and used his tail to strike Chelsey. Then he jumped onto her back, digging his talons onto her back.

The female retaliated by charging into a wall, and knocking him off. But Rennat still did some good damage. Four deep cuts now decorated both of her sides. She knocked him away with a blow to his side. But the dark red male still had fight left in him. Ignoring his pain, he lunged forward and managed to grip the Advisor by the back of her neck. He pulled her down, and tried to push her into the ground. But Chelsey used her tail to wrap around his leg and quickly pulled him down, making him lose his balance.

Chelsey quickly got onto her hind legs again as Rennat lunged at her. She raised a paw and struck across his muzzle. Rennat helped as he crashed back into the ground. He scrambled to his feet, and glared up at his opponent. Chelsey was still on her hind legs, baring her razor sharp teeth at him. Rennat bared his teeth at her as well.

The two were at a stand-off. Neither making a move, both waiting for the other to make a move. Blood now coated the floor as their wounds continued to spew out fresh blood. Rennat tried again to lunge at the female, but was greeted as Chelsey pressed a paw against his face and pushed him into the ground, his body collapsing with him.

She lowered her head to him, and pulled back her lips, her large fangs exposed. "I will tell you this one more time. Get out."

"And why should I listen to you?" Rennat growled.

"Should you really ask?" She lowered her head, and opened her mouth, setting her jaws around his head. She then slowly applied pressure to show Rennat what she was intending to do. Basically, if he didn't get out, he will be killed. And she already proven to him she could easily take him out. She then pulled back, and looked down at the dark red alimon. "Am I clear?"

He nodded. "Crystal clear."

She smiled darkly. "Good. Now get out!"

Rennat, not wanting to risk getting too injured to fight, got up and ran away. Chelsey charged at him to make him run faster. Once he was out of Rock Ranger territory, she stood there, and glared after him. Rennat disappeared into the horizon. The Advisor snorted, and turned to return back to the tunnels to speak with Cobalt.

"I hope he's all right." She said to herself as she re-entered the cave. She felt like she was a bit too harsh on him. She hoped he was in a good mood to talk.

"Chelsey?" Cobalt's voice rang as soon as she entered the tunnel. Chelsey was surprised of finding him so soon. "Did you get into a fight?" He said, noticing her cuts.

"Nevermind that now, Cobalt." She gestured to the solid blue alimon to follow her. "Let us go somewhere private. We need to talk." 


	12. Bitterness of Betrayal

(A/N: Once again sorry for the delay. Yeah I know, you guys are probably sick of me saying that. After this chapter and one more for Desolation, I will put both stories on hold to give me more time to work on my fancomic and to finish up the alimon comic I've been neglecting. However Desolation and OOTS2 will not be cancelled. I just can't work on so many things at once.)

Part II: The Plan

Donovan chuckled softly to himself as he and Tree-star began to circle each other, eyes locked onto each other, watching every movement the other was making. Donovan could tell something was different about this Tree-star. Normally she would try to avoid fighting, but this time she seemed more than willing to. Could her exilement have hardened her? Could she not be the Tree-star he had once known? Donovan looked at Stone. The gray alimon seemed also different. He didn't have that jokester look to him anymore, and he looked more serious than he did when he still ran the Rock Ranger pack.

Donovan's gaze shifted back to Tree-star, lips curled in an evil grin. "Well well well...it looks like I'm not the only one who had changed. Tell me... what went through your minds when you turned your backs on the Rock Rangers? Heheheheh... Did you also grow weary of this whole pathetic ancestor business? Did you decide to, as Fire put it, take our rightful place as king of beasts?"

Tree-star opened her mouth in shock, then quickly shook it off and snarled. Stone felt his feathers raise up in anger as Donovan spoke these words. "How dare you... You know perfectly well why we left!" Tree-star said, hissing in Donovan's direction. "You were there when it happened! We told you to keep the pack in shape while we were gone! We TRUSTED you!"

Donovan licked his lips. "Oh please, you expect me to carry all that burden to watch against such a weak pack? I left to join the Darkarians. I had a lot more..fun..."

Stone dug his claws into the ground, shaking like a leaf. This was not the first time he had been betrayed by someone he had cared about, by someone whom he thought cared about him. When he was just a cubbie, he felt the bitter sting of betrayal and wasn't the same ever since then. Now it is happened again. Hot tears streamed down his face. He recalled how he had saved Donovan from Fire countless times when they were cubbies. How could Donovan just turn on him like this, after all they had been through?

Donovan noticed Stone's pain and laughed. "Oh what's the matter, Stoney boy? You recalling old times? The fun we used to have together?" He lifted a paw, and flexed the talons that grew out of it. "Well you might as well forget them! They're old news to me! The past doesn't matter anymore, only the future!"

These words stung Stone's heart even more. The elderly alimon clutched his chest as the pain shot through him. His heart started to race, creating a nausiated feeling inside of him. He almost felt like throwing up. "How could you... You brother tried to kill you, and you are siding with him?!" Stone opened up his blood-shot eyes, giving a deathglare at Donovan. "I saved you from Fire and you are now trying to kill me?! Where is the logic in that?!"

Donovan swung his tail from side to side, tilting an eyebrow slightly. "Oh my, what a temper..." He shakes his head. "As I told you, I don't care about our past anymore. Forget all those memories of us as good buddies, Stone, because they are of no use anymore." He grinned. "I've already supressed most of mine..."

Tree-star roared and charged a few inches forward. "Now that's enough Donovan! Why don't we settle this right now? Let's go right now, mono y mono! I'll show you what happens when you betray the Rock Rangers!"

"Wow..Tree-star's got guts..." Tanner commented. The light red alimon, along with Rex, Chomper, and the kids, had stepped back to give the alimons room to fight. Tanner had never known Tree-star to be of the fighting time. He didn't know this side of her even existed. It would be interesting in seeing how this turned out.

As Rex sat down, cross-legged, to watch the alimon battle, he felt a couple of paws set on him. He looked down, and noticed Marsh and Brook looking up at him. Rex felt a pang of guilt sweeping through him. In the brief chaos, he had forgotten all about them. He took the little ones in his arms and set them on his lap.

Brook reared up, pressing his paws against Rex's chest. "Hey..are you Rex...?" He asked with a soft voice.

The dracovol slowly nodded his head. "Yes..I am."

Marsh rubbed against her brother's body as she strained to look at Rex in the face. "Our father told us a lot about you."

Rex smiled softly. "Oh yeah?"

Marsh grinned. "Yep! He told us how he found you as a little egg, all by yourself, and how you guys became like brothers. You had all kinds of fun in the Great Valley. I get you miss those days, huh?"

The dracovol smiled even more. "Yes, sometimes I do." He looked up at the sky. "It feels like yesterday..."

"And then you left the Great Valley, and met Yu and Chomper." Brook said as he looked up at Chomper.

Rex chuckled. "What HASN'T he told you?"

"Well...he said that you just disappeared one day. He would sometimes cry at night, calling out your name." Marsh said. "I felt bad for him. He acted like he didn't know where you were, as if you just disappeared off the face of the earth." She sighed. "But when we asked him, he would tell us to go off to play or something. He'd never tell us what happened."

Rex the Dracovol sighed sadly. The guilt he felt years ago for the choice he made was slowly rising back up in him again. "And for good reason..."

"Are you going to tell us?" Marsh and Brook inquired.

"I-I'm sorry, no. You'll find out when you're older. You're too young to learn now." Rex said softly, his wings drooping down slightly.

Chomper loomed over everyone as he stared at Tree-star and Donovan, who were still circling each other. The large sharptooth watched this, and began to recall incidents of 5 years ago. Just like Rex, he too began to feel guilty. He recalled how easily he let that darn Fire character control him, how Gris had so easily tricked him as a younster, posing as Slasher.

Slasher...

Chomper had wondered, not too long ago, what really happened to that sharptooth. He was curious to find out what the real Slasher was like. He no longer shared ill-will against the olive-skinned sharptooth. When Ruby used to live in the Great Valley, he, as a youngster, experienced first-hand what life for a sharptooth was like in situations harsher than the ones he and his parents faced.

The olive-skinned sharptooth was probably just starving and desperate for food. But he also understood his parents' reactiosn to Slasher. The island was so small, it just could not support a third large sharptooth. Slasher had to be driven out.

But where is he now? Did he drown? Was he washed ashore? Was he ripped apart by sharks?

The final idea, Chomper regretted thinking. He began to recall the horrible sight of seeing his T-Rex parents ripped to shreds by swimming sharpteeth when he was still so young. He wondered if the whole thing was a set-up by the Darkarians. It was too much of a coincidence for Gris to be in the right place at the right time...

"You thinking about something, Chomper?" Tanner asked, staring up at the blue sharptooth. "You were really zoning out there."

"Oh..yeah..." Chomper said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"So..when are you going to land the first strike, Tree-star?" Donovan smirked. "I'll let you strike first. Let's see if you are brave enough to strike an old friend..."

The green alimon growled. "If you think you are going to psyche me out, then you can just forget it!"

"Are you afraid?" Donovan sneered.

"No!" Tree-star shouted back.

"Then..prove it." He dared her.

She bared her teeth, lowered her haunches, tensed up her muscles, and then sprang forward, her claws and teeth ready to rip into Donovan's black skin and flesh as though he were prey. A loud roar filled the air, and the sound of teeth and claws clashing with skin filled the witnesses' ears. Then the sickening sound of flesh being ripped was heard as Tree-star began to tear away at Donovan. She landed on his back, her claws digging in deep so he would have a hard time throwing him off. Her jaws were clamped around his shoulders, blood seeping out.

Donovan, surprised by the attack, roared and reared up and slammed back down, hoping to knock Tree-star off of him. The female flew off, and tumbled onto the ground. Taking this momentary advantage, the black alimon lunged forward and gripped Tree-star by the throat and began shaking her. He quickly let go as four talons slashed him across the face, close to the eyes. Tree-star bit down on Donovan's muzzle, her fangs ripping away at the sensitive area. Donovan began to pull away, edging Tree-star little by little.

To defend himself, Donovan lifted a paw and slashed across the side of Tree-star's right front leg. The pain was enough to force Tree-star to open her mouth as she screamed. Donovan slammed against her, and knocked her down. He then jumped onto her and gripped her head with his left paw.

"I told you you couldn't best me in a fight, Tree-star." He laughed as she watched her struggle and squirm beneath him. "I've had years of experience behind me. I led the Rock Ranger's troops. You...you hardly ever fought. With such little experience, how did you think you were a match for me?" Donovan jeered.

"Do you always gloat?" Tree-star asked him.

"What's it to you?" Donovan replied.

"Well, if you paid closer attention, you would notice you aren't so bright in fights yourself." Tree-star grinned.

"Wha..." The former Rock Ranger quickly turned to see what she meant, but it was too late for him to react. Tree-star had placed one of her hind legs directly onto his stomach. She applied pressure and the claws seeped in. Donovan let out a blood-curdling scream as the female delivered a deep gash across his belly, deep into the skin. White hot paind seered through him as blood flowed out like a waterfall. He got off of her, and slowly backed away. "You...you..."

Tree-star quickly got up, and smiled at him. "Not bad for a rookie, eh?"

"I'll get you..." Donovan hissed. "I swear! I'll KILL you for this..."

"How pathetic..." Donovan looked up to see a pair of glowing red eyes attached to a long necked dinosaur. It was Littlefoot, or Fire in this case. The fully grown longneck loomed over the area almost ominously. Marsh and Brook both hid behind Rex, who stood in front of them protectively. "How could my own brother fall for such a simple trick?"

"I can assure you, Fire, it won't happen again..." Donovan began.

"No..no it won't. Because of it does, I will personally use this longneck form to crush your pathetic body!" The longneck shouted, making Donovan cringe in fear. "Now go back home and get those wounds treated..."

"And what are you going to do?" Donovan asked.

The Fire-possessed Littlefoot looked over at the young longnecks, hiding behind Rex. He had wanted to take Brook away. He knew Brook had a lot more potential to him than he realized himself. But he had been interrupted... Now he was possessing a large longneck, who would be of no use to him when the time came... He had to get the child back... But not now, not while these dinosaurs could clearly see him, and could stop him. He would have to possess someone else.

And he knew just who.

"I'll leave them be...for now." He responded. As he turned to walk away, he glared at the group. "But believe me, I won't be ignoring you next time..."

As Donovan and the possessed Littlefoot walked away, Tree-star walked over to her mate, and nuzzled against him. Stone rested his head on hers. Suddenly Tree-star reared back, shrieking in pain. Alarmed Stone backed up a bit. "Tree-star?! Tree-star what is it?!"

"Get it off! Get it off!" Tree-star shouted, thrashing around, trying to get the creature that was tearing up her back off of her. Tanner spotted the attacker. It looked to be like a small alimon, but he couldn't get a good look at it. He immediately thought Darkarian and rushed forward.

"Get off of her!" He shouted as he gripped the intruder in his jaws and tossed it aside. He bared his teeth, panting hard as the attacker glared up at him. Suddenly their expressions softened, recognition taking over.

"Black Ember?!" Tanner gaped.

"Tanner?!" Black Ember was equally surprised. She then noticed Tree-star and the blood. Guilt shot up in her. "Tree-star... Stone... I thought you were dead..."

Black Ember was a dwarf alimon, standing only about 2 or 3 ft tall. But despite her small stature, she was quite fierce in battle, and had a temper that rivalled that of Fire's, although she had better control over it. She was also Fire and Donovan's sister. She had become a rogue many years ago, but still returned to add the Rock Rangers once in a while, or just for a visit.

"How could you attack me like that...?" Tree-star asked softly.

"I..I did not recognize you." Black Ember said. "You and Stone..you look so different from the last time I saw you..and you don't carry the same scent anymore."

"What are you doing here?" Stone asked, trying to sound as authority-like as possible.

"I was informed of a rogue alimon that was attacking these parts. I thought Tree-star was that alimon..." The dwarf alimon sat down. "But I had been mistaken."

"No... the rogue alimon is Donovan." Stone announced. "He betrayed us..."

Black Ember's eyes widened. "Donovan...?" She just couldn't believe it. Donovan may have been harsh, but he was never the type to just turn on his own pack like that. What could have happened?

Tanner stepped forward. "No..it's not Donovan that had been attacking the valley earlier." Tanner looked at the ground, recalling what happened when Stone saved him. "The rogue alimon is my twin, Rennat. He looks just like me..but several shades darker."

"Your..twin...?" Black Ember asked, feeling somewhat confused. She, like all the other Rock Rangers, thought Tanner was an only child. He never mentioned anything about having a sibling.

Tanner nodded. "Yes. He was created with my DNA by one of Gris's followers not long after Gris himself was killed. They used some kind of magic to bring Rennat into existance. In a way, you could say he's my brother."

"Your brother?"

"Yes. He's like me in many ways, although much darker and more sinister." Tanner said.

"But...if you knew about him the whole time..why didn't you say anything?" Chomper asked, walking forward. "If you had told us, we..."

"It would not have changed a thing!" Tanner shouted. "It wouldn't have changed a thing..."

Rex looked nervously at the scene before him. "So...now what do we do?"

Tanner glared sternly at Rex. "We have to locate Rennat and kill him..before it's too late."

"Why?"

"He is one of the keys to releasing a being into this world even more dangerous than Fire." Tanner said.

(A/N There we go, another chapter. And please, don't PM me just to ask me when I'll update. Telling me to update won't make me update any sooner. Just be patient, and I'll update when I can.) 


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